


Human

by EeveeNicks



Series: Human [1]
Category: Metroid Series
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety, Bounty Hunters, Dragons, Drama, Earth, Family, Gen, Humanity, Male-Female Friendship, Mercenaries, Mystery, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Science Fiction, Xenophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-28 09:17:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 80,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7634707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EeveeNicks/pseuds/EeveeNicks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Samus struggles to move past the Space Pirate War after the destruction of Zebes. Adam accompanies her when she accepts a mission from a mysterious woman. While the work seems simple, the pay seems suspiciously generous, and this mission will take Samus into territory completely alien to her: Earth, where she will find a secret group bent on the destruction of human-alien hybrids. Sort of AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"You've seriously never been to Earth before?" The General stared at the woman beside him and repeated himself for what must have been the fifth time that evening. He acted as though it was completely unheard of for a human to have never visited humanity's Mother Planet.

The woman stared back at him, wordlessly. She was a slender but muscular blonde with a pensive look in her feral eyes. Her companion had been questioning her on the same subject matter so relentlessly that she was starting to get annoyed. While she knew humans had originally come from Earth and that she was, at least somewhat, human, it had never occurred to her before that she might have been missing something by staying out in space and other Outer Planets. She was certain she had met other humans before who had never visited Earth, particularly those that had been born on the Colonies as she had been.

She sat back in her seat, her lips pursed in thought as her intense blue eyes stared at the back of the seat in front of her. She and the General were on a commercial spacecraft along with several dozen other passengers all crammed into rows of four that were bisected by a thin aisle. She sat in the innermost seat, beside the window and gazed out as the craft began its descent into Earth's atmosphere.

"I'm sorry, Samus," he continued, ignoring his companion's silence. Samus's wordless responses were usually indicative that there was something pressing on her mind, and right now he could tell she was in one of those moods. He knew his companion hated commercial spacecraft or mass transit of any kind, but she had elected to leave her ship back at the Federation base in favor of a lower profile form of travel.

The two must have looked strange traveling together. Samus was an unusually tall and muscular woman in her thirties. She had long blonde hair that fell midway down her back, and she wore a black leather jacket, an old pair of blue jeans, and a pair of clean but unremarkable combat boots. She wore no makeup or other accessories, and she had a hyper-vigilant air about her that was enough to set those around her on edge. There were several vein-like dark lines around her right eye that were nearly invisible unless one knew to look for them, scars of an old infection.

The man beside her, General Adam Malkovich, looked to be about twenty years her senior, and his coal-black hair was streaked unevenly with gray. The deep set lines in his face showed little evidence of ever having smiled, and his gray eyes always made him seem to be preoccupied with thoughts thousands of miles away. However, like Samus, he also possessed a hyper-vigilance rarely seen in civilians. He wore a simple gray trench coat and lacked any distinguishing visual features. And that was how he liked it.

They sat in silence for the better part of ten minutes before the blonde woman finally spoke.

"I was born on a Colony of Earth. Most of the residents lived their entire lives on that planet." She did not even bother to look back at her companion, and she spoke in a firm monotone as though reciting rote facts. "Besides, don't pretend like you don't know why I've avoided Earth the past fifteen years."

Adam glanced over to her and studied her reflection in the window. She seemed intently focused on what was going on outside the ship. He knew bits and pieces about her life, having known her for nearly seventeen years, but did not know as much as he would have liked to. Still, he was certain he knew more than anyone at the Federation knew. He knew she had been the only survivor of the massacre on Earth Colony K-2L, but did not know what had happened to her in the years after that. He knew she possessed alien technology in the form of her powersuit, and he knew she had once served under him in the Galactic Federation Army before he had expedited her discharge after an unforeseen complication. She had disappeared for a while only to reappear as an infamously powerful bounty hunter. In recent years, she had made a living taking private military contracts for the Galactic Federation government, despite the objections of many who condemned the use of mercenaries as dependence on dangerous outsiders.

He sighed audibly as he turned his head away from her. She looked as human as he did, but he and several others high in command knew that she was some form of hybrid. Her military records stated as much, but no blood or genetic test had ever been able to determine exactly what sort of creature she was, giving her a label of "Class Delta Semi-Human", which meant "unknown species of unknown origin."

For a galactic alliance built of over a dozen different races, all native to different planets, they were still incredibly hostile to anyone they considered an "alien". And Samus's unknowable genotype put her solidly into the category of "alien", even if no one would say it outright. It had never bothered Adam that she was an alien, but the day she left the military had brought much rejoicing amongst the higher ups.

"Adam." Samus had turned to look at him now, her face unreadable, as usual. "Look at the lights down there. I think it's the city."

Adam glanced over her and out the ship's window. Indeed, they were fairly close to Earth now, and the pilot had turned on the fasten seatbelt sign. Below them were thousands of lights, some in thick clusters and some in bright veins, mostly golden specs on a sea of blackness, but with a red glow winking in and out of existence every now and then. They really were quite lovely, and he wondered how many times he had flown to Earth and ignored the bright patterns in his haste.

"If Earth is really the birthplace of humanity," Samus began, "I'm glad I got to see it like this first. It's so random, the way all of those lights are down there, but it's strangely beautiful at the same time."

It was a very odd thing for Samus to say, Adam mused to himself as he stared at the bounty hunter. She was not normally one to comment on aesthetics or get sentimental over any of the planets she visited. He wondered if there was more to this trip than just the mission or if his talk of being human was starting to get to her.

"Well, Lady, it certainly is beautiful. I guess I'd never really looked before."

She seemed satisfied with his acknowledgement and turned to stare back out the window, off in her own world once more.

"Tell me one more time," he said, more to draw her back to the present than to get information. "Why are we doing this?"

Samus turned back to him and finally seemed to look directly at him and come out of her head and into the present. There was a haunted look in her eyes, but as she blinked a couple of times, it seemed to fade for a moment. When she spoke, this time, she seemed less automated.

"I received a message from a Mrs. Morrigan Sinclaire, some wealthy widow with a large estate. She wants to hire me for some private security work."

Adam shook his head. "Seems a little overkill to hire the galaxy's most powerful bounty hunter for personal security. Is she just looking for a bodyguard? Do you think there's some kind of actual threat or she's just the paranoid type?"

Samus shrugged. "I get a lot of people trying to contract me for private security. This one actually offered me twice my going rate and passed a rigorous credit check. I figure now that the war is over, what do I have to lose? Work's gonna be more scarce now, so I might as well take what I can get. I did some digging into her social media accounts and private life, but I couldn't find much on her. Seems like the standard rich, eccentric type, and that's all right with me. I could use a change from the sort of nasty missions I've been working lately." Then she added with an indifference most people might have found unnerving, "I read an interview with her from a news article though. A few members of her family have been murdered over the years. I guess she doesn't want to be next."

In some ways, this sort of behavior was typical for Samus. She was drawn to suffering, drawn to solitude. But he had a feeling there was more to this unusual choice than she let on. She had been behaving strangely since she had returned from her last mission, and he worried about her. A few months earlier, she had flown to some Space Pirate occupied planet called "Zebes" to retrieve a Metroid hatchling that had been stolen from the Ceres Station. The rescue mission had ultimately been a failure, but she had succeeded in blowing up the planet, thus annihilating the last Space Pirate stronghold and bringing an end to the Space Pirate War.

After blowing up an entire planet, private security work sounded ridiculous. Though she claimed it was because of the pay, Adam knew she didn't really need the money. Despite her status as an independent contractor, she made more than he did and had amassed a decent fortune from her last few missions. Despite that, she insisted on living like a pauper and keeping only her Hunter-Class gunships and a studio apartment in a rough neighborhood on one of the Outer Planets. He always thought she should spend a bit of the money to raise her standard of living and make herself a bit more comfortable, but he understood why she didn't.

This mission bothered him, though, and it bothered him how close-lipped she was being about it. Samus knew her way around a gun and every other tool of war anyone had ever dreamed up. During her time in the Army, she had saved his life and lives of his soldiers in battle myriad times. Since becoming a mercenary, she had survived countless battles, suicide missions, and whole intra-planetary wars, but she could be naïve in the affairs of humans. When he had heard what sort of mission she was accepting this time, and where it was, he had insisted upon accompanying her. The end of the Space Pirate War had brought a strong anti-mercenary political current, and Earth was not a hospitable world to anyone less than purely human.

She may have been nearly indomitable physically, but he knew she had a vulnerable side for those weaker than herself. It was as though she felt the need to save or protect the whole galaxy. He did not want anyone taking advantage of that part of her. There were those in the Federation who saw her as a nuisance and dangerously unstable variable, and he did not want any retaliation for her part in the war. She still had not seemed to recover mentally from whatever had happened on Zebes, and he wished she'd talk to him about it.

There was another reason he was heading to Earth with her, though, one he hoped she would never find out. Even when she had been under his command in the Army fifteen years ago, she had been known for having a nasty temper and being difficult to control. That aspect of her had more or less mellowed out with age and maturation though, and for many of the years the Federation had contracted with her, she had seemed like reasonable enough individual, and upon his recommendation, Chairman Keaton had contracted with her directly for some of the most dangerous missions in the war.

Since the destruction of Zebes and the end of the Space Pirate War, however, something had not been quite right with the mercenary. He knew her well enough to recognize the signs of what was wrong, but many of the other high government officials had been taken aback by her mannerisms since returning from Zebes and had refused to grant her a visa to come to Earth until he had volunteered to oversee her trip. The woman was a walking weapon who had blown up multiple planets over the course of career, and lately she had been having seemingly random episodes of flying into a rage at the drop of a hat. The humans higher up in the Federation were not about to let her visit one of their most protected planets alone if they thought she would become a danger to it.

But the General understood her to a certain extent, and he knew that the end of Space Pirate War had brought much rejoicing across the galaxy, but it had not been the easiest transition for Samus Aran, whose family had been killed roughly thirty years ago in one of the events leading up to the war and who had dedicated her entire life to fighting against the Pirates. Now that it was over, he supposed she felt that her life lacked purpose, and he wondered if she were coming to Earth at least in part to get reacquainted with her human roots.

As he regarded Samus sitting and quietly staring out the window, Adam wanted to say a million things to her just then, but found himself at a loss for words. He did not really know what was going through her mind, only that a part of her had never truly made it back from her final mission to Zebes, and even if the rest of the galaxy was moving on, he knew the Space Pirate War had never ended for her simply because she did not know how to live under any other circumstances.

At a loss for anything productive to say, he settled on simply breaking the silence. "Whatever this Morrigan's issue is, at least she finally gave you a reason to start acting like a real human and get yourself to Earth."

He didn't see Samus scowl at her reflection in the window.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 

         

Samus stared out the window as the spacecraft descended and the Earth came more clearly into view. There were so many things she was dying to say to Adam, so many things she knew he should know if he were going to be spending so much time with her. Still, they were sorts of things for which she could not find the right words, if there were even any words at all to describe them.

Nothing had been quite right since the end of the Space Pirate War, and though she knew the whole galaxy celebrated as they entered a new age of peace, she could not help but feel alienated by it. As she pressed her palm up against the window, she thought perhaps that would be the best way to describe how everyone felt to her: as though she were watching the rest of the universe celebrate from behind a wall of glass. Though people congratulated her and the media sang her praises, it frustrated her that she could not feel their so obviously infectious joy, as if the part of her that felt those things had withered and died during her years of isolation. It was a dull ache deep in her chest, and sometimes it was downright hard to breathe. The war may have been over to the rest of them, but it didn't feel that way to her.

As she glanced over to her companion, she was glad he wasn't looking at her. She wondered if the General ever felt the same way, like this peace was an illusion and the Pirates could come back at any minute with some new bio-weaponized lifeform or worse.

She wondered why Adam had insisted on accompanying her to Earth, but she had a couple of theories about it. First, she figured he would want to see his family. His wife and his two daughters lived in a town not far from where Morrigan Sinclaire had contracted Samus for this new mission. As a General in the Federation Army, Adam was often away from home for long stretches of time, sometimes whole Earth years. While he could telecommunicate with his family, he had often lamented to Samus how he hated not being present for so much of his daughters' lives. As a result, when he heard Samus was going to be traveling not only to Earth but to an area so close to his town, he had jumped at the excuse to accompany her.

Although she couldn't confirm it and wouldn't bother asking, Samus also suspected he was still "on the clock", so to speak, for the Federation Army. Probably acting as her chaperone or keeping tabs on her or some such nonsense. It was no secret that the Federation distrusted her and the power she wielded, and there were some higher-ups who considered her a dangerously unstable individual. It was amazing how people who had acted as though she were a savior during the Space Pirate War now basically treated her like a time-bomb now that her skills were no longer relevant.

Other than that, she supposed Adam wanted to accompany her because of her last mission to Zebes. Or rather, how she had returned from her last mission to Zebes. Nothing had gone wrong, per se, but nothing had really happened at all. After the planet had blown up, she had briefed the Federation officials on the destruction of the main Pirate stronghold, and a brief legal battle had ensued in which clueless attorneys had argued over whether or not she had the right to take the level of action she had taken unauthorized.

There were a few charges pressed, but none of them stuck, save for a few nights in jail she had gotten for punching out one of the reporters who had tried to get in her face. It had been a strange but not unfamiliar incident. She couldn't even remember striking the person, just that one moment she felt someone coming up behind her, and the next moment they were on the ground and she was being read her rights. But she wasn't even convicted on those charges, though she was glad to hear that the reporter was expected to make a full recovery.

After that, she realized that she was too on edge around other people and had taken off for deep space hoping to clear her mind for a little bit. No one heard from her for several months before Adam finally managed to get in touch with her. Even then, she still refused to speak of what had happened on Zebes, and even now she hated to think of that mission.

It hadn't been long after she had returned from her trip to SR-388, when she had eradicated the last of the Metroids on their home world. All except one. A hatchling. It had imprinted on her while she was escaping the explosions on SR-388. After killing the Queen Metroid, she thought she was done with her mission, but on her way back to her ship, she stumbled upon one last Metroid egg.

Samus had never seen a Metroid egg before, and she was about to blow it to bits when she saw it begin to move. She had no idea why she stopped cold in her tracks and watched the tiny creature emerge from its leathery prison, but she was completely transfixed by the sight of it. It was the smallest Metroid she had ever seen, and rather than the cacophonous screeches of its mature counterparts, the Hatchling made only little squeaking noises.

_So that is what the Queen Metroid was protecting,_ Samus thought to herself as she watched the tiny creature float confusedly, searching for its fallen mother. Searching for any of its own kind. Finding nothing.

It was an orphan, the sole survivor of a raid on its home planet, just as she had been once. This time, however, she had been the killer instead of the victim.

And despite that, it floated right up to Samus, seemed to study her in its own way before circling her excitedly. And Samus, still covered in the blood and remains of its biological mother, knew it had imprinted upon her. Somehow, despite all of the Metroids she had killed during that mission, all of the creatures she had killed in her career, Samus Aran could not kill the orphan Metroid.

Instead, she rescued it from the planet, took it into her ship, and set a course back to the Federation. Inside her ship, the creature squeaked and squished happily through the air, and she could feel herself developing a perverse affection for it. And something like guilt. It seemed almost to love her in the way a dog or a cat loves its person or perhaps even the way a child loves its parent. Samus was not sure. The thought of herself acting as anything's mother sent shivers down her spine. She was a walking weapon, and those who associated with her often met violent and terrible ends. Despite her efforts to protect it, this Metroid ultimately had been no exception.

It was not a terribly long ride to the Ceres Station, where she had been instructed to bring it, but it was long enough for Samus to relax and become unusually comfortable with the Metroid's presence. For most of the way, it rested perched on her shoulder and went into a type of stasis she figured was the Metroid equivalent of sleeping, and though she knew it could never stay with her, she found herself feeling something of an affection for the little blob. It wasn't quite maternal, but it was something, and it awakened feelings she had long fought to repress. Deciding it would be safer without her, she sold it to the scientists of the Ceres Station for a few credits and went on her way.

She stayed in a room on the Federation base just long enough to recover from a few minor injuries sustained in her battles on SR-388. Then she fled the station as quickly as possible, in search of new bounty to hunt. She was not gone long before she received the distress signal to return to the Ceres Station. And it wasn't long before she was defeated by her nemesis, Ridley, as he kidnapped the Hatchling and returned with it to the Pirate Base on Zebes.

Without a second thought, she pursued the dragon back to the Pirate stronghold on Zebes and waged her own personal war on the planet, trying to rescue the Metroid and keep such a dangerous life form out of the Pirates' grasp. It was several days before she returned from Zebes, empty handed, leaving another trail of catastrophic destruction in her wake.

And after her day in court, the Federation celebrated her as a hero. And they paid her generously, money for which she hadn't even contracted. And they declared it a victory, the official end to the war they had been fighting for three decades.

But Samus took her ship and flew away alone, back to a small apartment in a dilapidated building on one of the obscure Outer Planets. What they celebrated as a victory, she could not help feeling was her own personal failure. It made no sense to mourn for a Metroid larva, and yet part of her did. There was a sense of loss that ran deep through her, and she knew it was simply the loss of another that she was projecting upon the Metroid, the loss of a life she might have had at one time.

That mission had been months ago, but to this day, she refused to speak of what had happened on Zebes. Even now as she sat with Adam on the commercial spacecraft and it prepared for its landing, she knew she could not bring it up to him. He would understand. He was the only one who would understand why she mourned the loss of the Metroid the way she did because he was the only one who knew the sacrifices she had made to make sure that same fate had not come to another.

 

* * *

 

 

         

It was almost midnight when Samus and Adam landed at the spaceport. The ship docked without delay, and the passengers exited through a long glass tube that connected to the port. A few of the passengers hurried off toward the baggage claim, but Samus and Adam had only a single suitcase each. They popped the handles up and rolled the heavy cases behind them as they made their ways toward the magnet trains.

"You have to love this new hyperspace luggage transport technology," Adam said with a glance toward the blue metallic case as he rolled it through the port. "That added dimension makes it so much easier to store several times the amount of stuff in such a small space."

Samus grunted and nodded absently, not really paying attention to her companion. "Yeah. Bigger on the inside."

The General frowned, glad she wasn't paying him enough attention to notice. He felt idiotic standing there talking as though he were doing an advertisement for their match luggage line, but he had been hoping to draw her into some kind of conversation. He decided to wait until they were seated on the magnet train where it would be quieter and they could actually sit and face one another.

The two old friends walked briskly and purposefully to the train and quickly snagged two seats at the rear of the final car. Samus liked having a wall behind her back and being able to see everything that happened in the car around them. She relaxed when the train began moving, and while she never let her guard down, she seemed instantly lighter and more at ease than she had been on the ship. They would be riding this train for hours, up north and west toward Morrigan Sinclaire's property.

"So you've been to this city before, right Adam?" She glanced over to her friend with a hint of a grin grazing across her face.

Surprised by her sudden change in demeanor, Adam nodded. "New York. I've been here. Crowded. But it was the predecessor to Neoyork on Calliope IX."

Neoyork was the Capital City of Calliope IX, one of the Federation's largest Core Planets. It was the second most heavily guarded city in the galaxy, next to the Federation Capital itself. Samus had become intimately acquainted with the city years ago when she had fallen on hard times and lived on its streets before a well-timed stint in prison had led her to join the Army.

She had only been there a handful of times since then, and she had thought it to be an overwhelming conglomeration of commerce, arts, and politics. Buildings could stretch from several thousand feet in the air to several hundred feet underground, and the streets were so crowded they needed to erect guardrails along the sidewalks to stop people from being jostled into the Ground Traffic. There must have been hundreds of different alien species living on that planet, and many of them were foreign even to Samus. She didn't like crowds and was happy that the magnet train she currently rode was heading far away from the city of New York, if it was anything like its derivative city.

Unlike the underground trains on planets she had been to, the Earth magnet train hovered just above ground level, and she could see the sights from the window as they got away from the city and into less populated areas.

Large plants with needle leaves and brown bark grew in forests on either side of the tracks and stretched up mountainsides. Every now and then, she would see a water stream or a steep rock formation, but she enjoyed the large plants most of all. They reminded her of the plastic ones some humans would decorate at the end of the atomic year.

"Pine trees," Adam said to her with a real smile, as through he had read her mind. Her face had looked comically like she was trying to scan the trees with her visor, only to realize she was not wearing her powersuit. "They're the same kind people decorate for Christmas, that holiday at the end of the year." He laughed. "But these aren't the collapsible plastic ones you're used to."

Samus smiled as well. She had always liked trees, though she had never seen them growing in such a large, natural forest. She decided she wanted to see what they looked like when the sun came up. Though she had seen a few real trees on Federation stations, they usually had glass domes or metal fences around them, and none of them were nearly as large or majestic looking as the wild ones. Perhaps this was why Adam and other humans were so fond of Earth. Even the air felt more natural to her lungs than any she had ever breathed.

"We didn't really have trees on the planet I grew up on," she said suddenly as she looked over to Adam. "We didn't have holidays either. We hardly even paid attention to atomic years, and I didn't learn how to use a calendar until I joined the Federation Army."

This was one of those rare moments Adam savored. Samus was speaking to him as naturally as any other person would, and she was talking about her past as though it didn't phase her a bit. Of course, Adam never brought up Samus's history to her, but on the occasions when she would volunteer something, he enjoyed learning more about his enigmatic friend.

"Now I have to ask," he said, trying to sound as natural as possible. "Which planet did you grow up on?"

Samus smiled wistfully and color highlighted her cheeks. "Promise you won't judge? Won't tell anyone?"

"I promise."

She nodded and took a breath. In all the years she had known the General, it was a question she had managed to avoid answering. There some things about her past she simply never spoke of, but it seemed ridiculous to hide something like that all these years later. It was finally time to let someone know.

"I grew up on Zebes."

The shock must have shown in Adam's eyes as he looked over his companion.

She sighed and shook her head. "No one living knows that, except for you now. I know you must be wondering how that was even possible. You're probably even trying to figure out if I'm kidding. I'm not." Her face took back on its stoicism, her cold blue eyes boaring into the older man.

After a long silence filled with uncomfortable eye contact, Adam finally voiced what was on his mind. "The atmosphere on Zebes is toxic to humans. And there was never a colony there." He knew her admission had just confirmed some things he had long suspected about Samus. He furrowed his brow in a mixture of frustration and sadness for his friend.

"I was born a human once." Samus's face mirrored his own sadness and reflected it back to him. "But that girl was dead and buried long ago."

The world raced silently by through the windows of the metal train car. People spoke in hushed voices in their seats. Adam heard them, but sat transfixed by the woman beside him. Samus Aran wasn't fully human. That was no shock. But that she had been human at one time, and explained a few things he had always wondered about. He had heard stories of interspecies organ transplants and skin grafting, simple procedures like that. Some interspecies mating had proven possible over the years. But that wasn't what Samus was.

"I'm hoping…" she looked down with a coy smile. "I'm hoping you're right and that there is something essential about the human experience coming to Earth. I'm still human, at least in part, but lately I've been feeling that side… slipping away. Like I'm becoming less man and more machine, if that makes sense. Like a living weapon that can't feel anything at all. I took this dumb mission because I want to see if there's anyway to get that part of me back… if it was ever there to begin with."

Adam placed his hand reassuringly on her upper arm. "I understand, Lady." He understood better than she knew. She may not have been human, but what she was experiencing certainly was. "But I also know why you've avoided coming to this planet." He lowered his voice and leaned in closer to his friend. "Have you changed your mind about meeting Hector?"

Samus glared at him, pulling her arm away and staring at the General in shock. "Stop. Someone could hear you. Don't say that name. Don't ever say that name again!" Her face flushed red with anger, and it took her a moment to compose herself. "I'm sorry... I guess it's still a touchy subject."

"No." The General shook his head. "I'm sorry for bringing it up. I know better. I suppose this means your feelings on that subject haven't changed?"

Samus shook her head. "I made my decision fifteen years ago. This trip to Earth has nothing to do with him. Believe me. He's better off never knowing me."

They rode in relative silence for the rest of the trip, and as morning finally broke over the mountaintops, Samus watched the sun rise for the first time. She was not sure what she expected as she watched its first rays of golden light spread across the land, setting the tops of the trees ablaze. It was not so different than the sunrises she had seen on other planets, but there was something different about this one, something that called to some primordial part of her, and it soothed her spirit in a way to know she was watching the same sun as the first humans who had ever walked this or any world.

After thirty-three years of living, it was her first day on Earth, and she wondered how many more of them she would get. She knew the reasons she had always avoided this planet, and part of her wondered if she was playing with fire getting so close now. Fifteen years ago, after her discharge from the Army, she had sworn to herself she would never come to this planet, but somehow that promise no longer seemed as binding now that the war was supposedly over.

It made sense to come to Earth now, that her first day in this world should signify the beginning of her new life. She only hoped that she would be able to get herself to believe that.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Bangor had once been the third most populous city in the state of Maine. Long ago, it had been well known for its lumbering industry, and anyone with even a slight familiarity with the area would have easily been able to point it out on a map. That had changed about a hundred years ago, however, back when the Core Planet Unification Treaty had been signed and Earth became one of the central planets in the founding of the Galactic Federation.

            Now Bangor stood mostly abandoned and falling into a state of natural decay, as did many of the other cities in the far north. Climate change and the dissolution of national borders had led most people to move farther south to escape the increasingly harsh winters. New York was the last major city heading north. The few remaining settlements that remained in what was once the Northern United States and Canada were small towns, usually in mountains or wooded areas, filled with ruggedly individualistic people grasping onto the last fibers of the Earth Before. The North had become, in a sense, the last libertarian holdout against the galactic unification. So low in population and so removed from any government, the denizens of this region were nearly all humans and refused much of the modern technology they associated with “Space Humans”. That said, their isolation from galactic society did not extend to the media, and as it was in space, the name of a certain famous bounty hunter had become a household word.

            From the moment Samus Aran stepped off of the train and into one of the outskirts of the remains of Bangor, she was overcome with the acute feeling that she had traveled back in time. The train station was a small wooden structure with only a lone building that resembled a cabin. There were a few humans going in and out, walking up to the counter to purchase tickets or heading inside to use the restrooms. Just past the cabin was a small asphalt parking lot with, to Samus’s shock, several ground vehicles that actually appeared to have wheels instead of hovering technology.

            “What the hell is this place?” She stared out at the heavily wooded areas that surrounded the narrow street leading away.

            Adam laughed, amused at the look of utter shock on his friend’s face. How many planets had the great Samus Aran traveled in her career as a bounty hunter only to stand astounded at the sight of cars and a two-laned street?

            “Seriously, Adam! What the hell? How backwards is this planet?”

            A few of the surrounding people stopped and shot Samus nasty looks.

            “Calm down, Sam,” Adam said, firmly placing and hand on her back and trying to steer her toward the street and away from the crowd. “They may be technologically impaired, but Earth Humans are damn proud, and you’re going to get yourself in trouble before we ever get to Sinclaire’s.”

            Samus sidestepped and threw his hand off. Spinning to face him, she glared and took an aggressive stance.

            Adam stopped in his tracks and took a step back. He had been careless and accidently tripped one of her triggers. The downright murderous look in her eyes told him that much, and he raised his open hands in a sign of surrender.

            “I’m sorry, Samus. I really am.” More glaring. People staring. He tried to speak softer. “I was only trying to help. You seemed a little overwhelmed, and people here are sensitive”

            “You don’t control me!” Her glare intensified, and her body became more rigid.

            “I know I don’t.” This was why the Federation had sent him to follow. “That was never my intent, and I apologize. I won’t try to control you. I was only trying to help and went about it the wrong way.”

            There was a tense silence as onlookers waited in anticipation. By all accounts, it looked like the blonde woman was about to attack the man. But that wasn’t what happened.

            Samus’s posture slowly relaxed, and her face gradually softened until she regained her composure and became acutely aware of what had happened and all of the eyes on her. Adam slowly lowered his hands as he saw hot rage replaced by hot embarrassment as her eyes shot to the ground in self-consciousness.

            “Lady…” he took a step tentatively toward her and extended his hand. She took it hesitantly as they began walking once more toward the road. When they finally got far enough away, Adam steered them into the thick woods, just far enough so that they could not be seen from the street.

            “Adam, I’m—”

            “Don’t worry about it,” he said softly, still holding onto her hand as he waited for her breathing to slow. “Nothing happened. I was careless and should have realized.”

            Once again he thought, this was why the Federation had sent him with her. Samus had a reputation in the media as some kind of galactic savior, but in the government she was notorious for causing high levels of destruction wherever she went. Earth was one of the most precious and fragile planets in Federation territory, and many of the higher ups were increasingly starting to view Samus as a dangerous loose cannon who should only be called upon as a last resort.

Indeed, she had always been a volatile person. Since she had joined the Federation Army at sixteen, she had been a sort of problem-child. After only six months, she had been sent to Adam’s unit for reform as a last resort before discharge. And while she had never become a model soldier, Samus had cooled considerably with age, and becoming an independent bounty hunter had changed her whole demeanor for the better. She didn’t do well with orders, but she worked incredibly on her own. After a while, she had even become able to tolerate being around large groups of people, albeit only for short periods of time.

Yes, Samus had a history of being volatile, but she had become distressingly more so since the destruction of Zebes. Alarmingly, she was starting to fly off the handle almost as easily as she had when she was a teenager. Taking into account what she had told him on the train, it started making more sense to Adam. But it wasn’t good. He didn’t think she would ever intentionally hurt anyone, but she was preternaturally strong, and anyone trying to approach her would have no way of knowing that. The Federation saw her as a liability, and he knew it.

“Samus…” he said, trying to approach the subject a gingerly as possible. He let go of her hand and lightly touched her upper arm as he took a step closer to her. “I’m concerned about you.”

Samus tensed up and continued to stare away from him, refusing to meet his eyes.

“I’ve noticed you haven’t been yourself since you returned from—”

“Save it!” She shrugged off his hand and pulled her arms closer to her torso. “There’s nothing left to say about that. Besides, we have to get on with this mission, or did you forget why we’re here?”

 _Why you’re here,_ Adam thought to himself as Samus pulled out her phone and sent their coordinates out to a cab. _I’m not here for a mission. I’m only here to make sure you don’t hurt anyone._

Did she really not see what was going on with her? No, she must have noticed. Samus had always been highly proficient in monitoring her physical and mental statuses. It was more likely she knew what was happening to her but was too proud to admit she needed help, a fact made painfully obvious by the way her hands were still trembling with rage as she ordered the cab service.

The bounty hunter clicked off her phone and put it into the pocket of her coat as she turned to Adam.

“We should head back out to the road. A ground vehicle will be here in a few minutes to take us into Rosewood and over to Blackacre.”

“Blackacre?” Adam followed, wheeling both of their suitcases behind him.

Samus nodded as they stepped out onto the street and she took her bag back. “That’s the name of Morrigan’s estate. Apparently, that’s what I’ve been hired to guard.”

“Sounds pretentious.”

Samus shrugged. “It’s a living. There’s only so much a girl can handle of hanging around dive bars and impersonating prostitutes trying to catch scum-bag drug pushers.”

Sometimes Adam forgot that while her Space Pirate-related missions had gained her intergalactic fame, the majority of her work did involve hunting down fugitives in some of the seediest places imaginable.

“I know what you do.” Adam smiled toward his friend, trying to dispel the lingering tension. “I’ve always known what you’ve done, but somehow I still can’t picture it. You’re too dignified and carry yourself with too much grace to spend as much time in the bowels of society as you do. You’ve always been too much of… well, a Lady.”

“You still going on about that after all these years, Malkovich?” Samus raised her eyebrows and playfully punched her friend in the arm.

“It still puzzles me.” The cab had turned around a corner, and much to their satisfaction, it was a hover-car.

Samus shook her head and half-grinned. Adam had always been astonished by the graceful way she walked, her ability to put on airs around respectable company, and her ability to throw a dinner party that would put Emily Post to shame. Very few people knew about those things anymore, but when she had been under his command, she would regularly default into proper speech patterns and mannerisms that seemed out of place for the type of person who got written up practically every other day for insubordination. “What can I say? They trained me to be versatile. From day one, I had to become the deadliest warrior, but I was also drilled in formal etiquette for five different cultures.” She shrugged. “I had no idea how to interact with humans back then. It was just easier to default to my training so I could always know how to respond.”

Adam didn’t have time to respond before the purple cab pulled up, and the trunk opened up to let them store their luggage. Adam sat beside Samus in the backseat, and noticed her hand resting at the concealed gun on her waste. She hated enclosed spaces. Touching her gun was more of a security blanket to Samus. It didn’t make sense considering this cab was an unmanned drone.

_“Destination: Rosewood, Hamlet of. Blackacre Estate. Is this correct?”_

“Yes”, Samus replied to the same ubiquitous automated female voice that almost every computer in galactic territory defaulted to. She could not help but think that whoever owned the rights to that voice must have been loaded by now.

_“Destination confirmed. Travel time: 15 minutes.”_

As the hover-car began its smooth trip forward, Samus relaxed back into her seat and looked out the window. She slipped back into her own thoughts and gently clasped her hands together, trying to stop the last of their shaking. Her temper was out of control lately, and even she could not deny that, but she couldn’t bring herself to talk to anyone about it, not even Adam. Not yet. There were still many things bubbling just below the surface, and she was afraid if she let any of them out, her will would burst like dam, and everything would rush forward so quickly it would finally break her. Indeed, she had felt the cracks getting deeper since Zebes. But she had to hold on, just a bit longer. She still had so many miles to go before she could rest. The galaxy needed the image of the stoic, invincible hero, Samus Aran. It was still so devastated and torn up from the war with the Space Pirates. People needed hope. It didn’t matter how torn up she was herself.

Truth be told, no one had known the horror of this war as intimately as Samus Aran. No one had experience quite the devastation at the hands of the pirates as Samus had in the three decades of her life, having lost literally everything several times over.

This mission though… This mission was one she hoped would help her. And as they pulled up as the wrought iron gates of Blackacre, and stepped out to survey the massive estate, Samus was filled with a hope she could only pray wasn’t false.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The premises of the Blackacre estate were massive and teeming with more lush green life than Samus had ever seen. The grounds themselves were hilly and covered in rich grasses and a few great oak trees casting inviting patches of shade over the landscape. A stream flowed through one part, just large enough to look delightful. Samus had grown up swimming in the underground springs of Maridia, but rarely had she visited planets that had water on their surfaces, let alone clear, running water. Down on the far end, she thought she could see a pond or a lake, but she was too far away to tell.

The Manor stood at the top of the tallest hill, and the two friends walked along the long gravel driveway that stretched all the way from the gate to the house itself. It was a dark, imposing building cast in a classical Victorian style and built of a wood so deep it was nearly black. Ornate white trim outlined the sloped roofs, windows, and doors, and Samus thought it almost resembled a dollhouse. Her favorite part, though, was the large circular tower room that must have stretched from the second to the third floors. It was a beautiful old work of architecture, and for once in her life, Samus found herself wishing she owned a house, if only it were so elegantly beautiful as this one.

When she reached the front door, she ran her hand along the intricately designed lion’s head knockers and wondered how long it had taken the Sinclaire family to create this place. She had occasionally been taken out to fancy restaurants by potential employers wishing to contract with her, but she had never known what it meant to spend any extended period of time around luxury. Living a very Spartan life, she generally distrusted anyone who had enough funds to throw away on showy non-essentials. But this place was different somehow. It looked almost like a place she would design for herself… in another life, of course.

Adam rang the bell as Samus admired the bushes and flower beds on either side of the entrance. After a few moments, one of the massive double doors creaked open, and a young woman stepped into view. Samus was a bit taken back by the younger woman’s appearance. She was quite attractive, but looked like she had just rolled out of a second hand clothing store. Her reddish-brown hair was puffy and all over the place, and she wore way too much black eyeliner. Her outfit consisted of an unbuttoned red flannel shirt that must have been several sizes too large for her, and underneath she wore an overly tight black crop top that had the words “Second Earth” emblazoned in faded gold lettering. Most of her pale skin below her neck was heavily tattooed. He blue jeans hung too low under her swollen abdomen. The woman was very obviously pregnant.

“We don’t want any.” She spat as she looked over Samus and Adam. “And we’ve already found Jesus, and I gave at the bloody office!”

She went to go slam the door, but Samus’s arm shot out and held it open, much to the other woman’s annoyance.

“Excuse me, Miss, but I believe there has been some kind of misunderstanding.” Samus had gone into her best customer service voice as the other woman tried in vain to throw all of her weight into closing the door on her. “I was told that someone at this address was looking to employ my services.”

Realizing Samus’s arm possessed more strength than her entire body, the woman stopped struggling with the door and snorted.

“Just who the ‘ell are you two? And what could we possibly need you for? Now, look bitch, if you don’t get your arm off my door, I’m gonna call the freakin’ cops.” When Samus remained where she was, the woman huffed angrily. Samus realized the woman spoke with a heavy Martian accent, and that it explained her weird grunge style. “Not scared of the coppers? Well, stick around long enough and you’ll have your stubborn asses handed to you by Samus Aran!”

An amused smile twitched at the corner of Samus’s mouth. “Is that so? You’re waiting for Samus Aran?”

“Damn bloody right, I am! And he’s on his way over ‘ere now! And just what are you grinning at, you insufferable tart?”

Samus took her arm off of the door and held it out toward the angry woman. Her posture straightened, and her voice softened and went into what Adam considered her full-blown formal mode. “Hello, Miss. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Samus Aran, and I’m responding to a contract sent to me by a Mrs. Morrigan Sinclaire, whom I have been told resides at this address.”

The other woman just stared at Samus, mouth gaping and face otherwise expressionless. “Well, I guess I expected a robot, but I didn’t think I’d get a freakin’ super-powered Stepford wife.”

Behind Samus, Adam sighed to himself and rubbed his forehead. Socially Awkward Samus was still alive and well, he saw.

When it became painfully obvious the other woman was not going to shake her hand, Samus lowered it. “May I please speak with Mrs. Sinclaire?”

“Sure, fine. That’s Grandmama, and she’s over in the living room.” The woman stepped aside, and as Samus and Adam walked by, she interjected “I’m Maggie, by the way. Not that you bothered asking.”

Samus paused and turned toward Maggie. “I apologize, Miss Maggie.” She thought for a second and then motioned toward Adam. “This is Adam Malkovich. He’s here too.”

Maggie stared blankly at them again. “’He’s here too.’ That’s a grand bloody description of the man. ‘He’s here too.’ Are you sure you’re Samus Aran?”

Samus turned very red and looked like she was at a loss for words.

“Oh she’s definitely Samus Aran.” Adam stepped forward and smiled politely at Maggie. “It’s very nice to meet you, Maggie. You have a lovely home, and we are excited to meet your grandmother.”

Maggie smiled coyly and wiggled her shoulders in a fashion Adam supposed was intended to be seductive. “Well, Mr. Malkovich, it is a pleasure to meet you as well. If ya wanna ditch the Amazon later, I’d love to chat.”

From behind him, Samus made a noise that sounded almost like hissing, but he turned to meet her eyes and she quieted instantly. Ignoring Maggie’s pass, he spoke softly to his friend. “Shall we make our way over to the living room, Lady?”

Samus just nodded and made her way into the hall past the foyer, leaving their bags behind. The last thing she needed was to let Maggie the Martian get under her skin.

The living room opened up at the end of the hall, and as Samus approached it, she marveled at the claw-footed Queen Anne styled sofa and chairs. Indeed, she felt as though she had waltzed into a picture book of the early 1900’s when she saw a fire burning in the great hearth in the back of the room. There were several portraits on the walls of people she did not recognize, and the etched glass windows on one wall extended nearly from the floor to the ceiling. Samus had never seen such a cozy little home.

And there, in a red wing chair beside the fire, sat a stately old woman Samus could only imagine was Morrigan Sinclaire.

“Ms. Aran,” the woman called, her voice still strong and deep despite her age. She stood slowly but with a dignified grace and beckoned for the two of them to have a seat on the sofa beside her chair. “Please, come in. Both of you. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” She did not share her granddaughter’s accent.

Samus led the way over to the old woman and shook her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Mrs. Sinclaire.”

“Please, call me Morrigan.” She gestured for Samus to sit, and Samus was instantly astonished by how tall the woman was. Samus herself was about six-foot-three, and she towered over most women, even many men, but this woman was nearly as tall as she was. Samus estimated she could not have been shorter than six feet. She had long, black hair, streaked with gray, and clear green eyes. She wore a floor-length burgundy dress that looked tailored to her form.

Samus sat on the couch as Morrigan and Adam shook hands and exchanged greetings. The fire felt warm against her skin and eased a chill she didn’t realize she had been feeling. This whole experience had been disconcertingly strange so far, but she hadn’t snapped at Maggie back there. Small victory. Still, she wasn’t used to cozy homes and polite old ladies. She was used to sterile briefing rooms, military bases, armories, dive bars, brothels, and the occasional wealthy, high powered business person contracting her to protect assets.

Adam took a seat beside her, making sure she was closest to Morrigan. He briefly touched her shoulder reassuringly. He could tell how uncomfortable she was outside of her usual element.

Morrigan sat down in her wing chair once more, and addressed both Samus and Adam. “First of all, thank you both for coming all this way. I know my home is a bit… off the beaten path, to put it nicely. I’m so glad you could make it.” Her words seemed genuine and her warm smile reached her eyes. “I know I was vague in contracting you, and I’d like to go over the details of this mission, and hopefully you will accept it.”

Samus nodded and waited for her to continue.

“As I can see, you’ve met my granddaughter, Marjorine. From what I could hear, I suspect she was rather impolite, but I implore you to look past that as she really is a very sweet girl. She’s just… well, she grew up on the Mars colony, and you know how that is.”

Mars had been the site of Earth’s first colony back in the 21st century, a fact they seemed determined to remind everyone of until this day. Once a thriving colony, it had become rundown and outdated over the years. For a while it had been a flourishing cultural hub filled with art and music festivals (and drugs), but nowadays it contained mostly the burned out space hippies who refused to move on from the good old days. Martian styles were usually variations of grunge-punk, and its inhabitants were known for being rough around the edges and arrogant. They boasted the planet as “Second Earth” and generally did not mix with either space people or Earthlings and shunned most aliens. It was a very insulated, societally inbred planet that did not get along well with most of the galaxy.

“Anyway,” Morrigan continued, “Marjorine is pregnant with my first great-grandchild, and I have moved her here so that she may be under my protection. She is my last surviving descendent, and I need to see that this child is born safely. There are those who would rather it not be, and she has already been attacked once back on Mars.”

Samus took a moment to process. “Is it the father?”

Morrigan sighed and nodded. “Yes and no. The father is dead and gone. He was murdered by the Purists.”

The hair on the back of Samus’s neck went up and her eyes snapped open to full attention. “The Purists? What would they…?”

The Purists were a radical human group dedicated to keeping human genetic populations “pure” and preventing the interbreeding of human and alien species. Some of the more extreme members would attempt to eliminate human/alien hybrids, and Samus herself had once been victim to a violent purist attack. But that had been long, long ago when she had first come into Federation territory.

“Marjoine’s child is one quarter Centurian. Its father was half-human, half-Centurian, and this will be the first time in history that a human/Centurian hybrid will produce its own offspring. The Purists, as you surely know, base so much of their opposition to interspecies unions on the fact that hybrids cannot produce their own fertile offspring. When this child is born, it will throw a major part of their ideology out the window.”

Samus nodded once more. Centurians were… well, basically space centaurs. They had humanoid torsos, arms, and heads, and rather equine-looking bodies. Their skin tones ranged from deep blue-violet to a sort of seafoam green, and they often had long, thick hair in every color along the same spectrum. They were very intelligent and beautiful beings, although the idea of bedding one seemed a bit odd to Samus, although she had her own slightly unorthodox taste in bedroom partners... Still, she had known several human/Centurian hybrids over the years, and they all seemed to be unique mixes of the two species.

“I am contracting you today, Samus,” Morrigan’s voice was very firm as she looked directly into the mercenary’s eyes, “to protect my granddaughter, at least until such time that her child is born. Both of my own children are long dead, one in a massacre, and one by his own hand. I cannot lose these two. They are the last of my line, and I love them both dearly. I am hiring you because you are the best in your field, and I know you will not hesitate to pull the trigger when it becomes necessary. And it will become necessary.”

“I understand.”

“Good. Now, I was only expecting you, but I can gladly accommodate your husband.”

“Oh!” Samus laughed. “He’s not my husband. He’s just… Adam.”

Morrigan raised an eyebrow, and Adam stifled a laugh.

“No, Samus and I are not married,” Adam said, holding up his left hand to show his wedding band. “Although I am married, quite happily to my wife of twenty years. Samus, however, is just a friend of mine. She served under me during her time in the military, and we’ve known each other… what? Seventeen years?” He looked to his friend.

Samus nodded and smiled. “Yes. I suppose it has been that long…”

Morrigan smiled. “Old friends can be wonderful companions. At any rate though, I suppose I should give you both separate rooms. You’ll both be on the second floor. There are five guest rooms up there. Lunch will be served promptly at noon, and in addition to what I agreed to pay you in our correspondence, Samus, I will gladly provide housing and meals for the both of you for the length of your stay. Now,” she gestured toward Maggie, standing at the entrance to the living room, “Both of you must be exhausted and famished from your trip. Marjorine will show you to your rooms so that you may freshen up before we eat.”

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“Seriously, Samus, why are we here?” Adam’s face was stern as he regarded the woman standing before him. “This job is ridiculous and well below your skill level.”

            Samus stared coldly back at him as she threw her suitcase onto the bed beside her. “I already told you. The money was good enough.”

            Turning her back to him, she began unpacking her bag. It was a strange sort of multi-dimensional suitcase, and each time she removed a layer of clothing and laid it on the bed, the others rose up to where the top layer had been, giving the impression that the suitcase was bottomless. The walls of her bedroom were a bright eggshell, and it was decorated in a similar Victorian style as the rest of the house. The floors, nightstand, headboard, and armoire were all of a deep cherry wood, and there was a small bathroom just off the wall across from the bed.

            “You’ve never taken a mission based on the money before.”

            Samus raised an eyebrow at him. “Never? I’m pretty sure getting paid for what I do is what kept me from going back on the streets years ago. Besides, why do you care all of a sudden what I’m doing here?

            “Because I feel like you have some kind of ulterior motive you aren’t telling me about.”

            “Oh?” Samus stopped unpacking and stood straight to look at Adam. “Like you don’t? Telling me you came here because you wanted to visit Earth with me? I know the Federation sent you! They don’t trust me here, not with my collateral damage record.”

            Adam was silent for a moment. “I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I know you hate feeling like you’re under anyone’s control. They were originally going to try to bar your access to Earth at customs, but I volunteered. I should have told you, but I didn’t think—”

            “Exactly. You didn’t think.” Samus glared, although not with the mad ferocity she had shown at the train station. “To answer your question though, yes, I do have an ulterior motive for coming here. You’ll probably think its stupid, and I think its crazy, but I felt like I had to do this.”

            Adam’s face softened as he sat on the bed beside the stacks of Samus’s clothes. “Is it because of the Purists?”

            “What?” Samus looked genuinely surprised. “No… I didn’t even know they were involved until just now.”

            “Oh, I just thought that being—”

            “Oh I’ve had my share of conflicts with them,” she said, unconsciously touching her throat through her turtleneck blouse. “They don’t like me much because of what they suspected I am… but no. Nothing to do with them. It’s just that… did you hear what Morrigan said? She lost one of her children in a massacre.”

            “Okay?”

            Samus bounced onto the side of the bed opposite Adam and leaned in to look at him. “I had done some research on this family before accepting the job. There is a surprisingly small amount of info out there, but I can kind of understand that now seeing this… _town_.”

            Adam could tell Samus was roughly as fond of people around here as they seemed to be of her. It made sense, he thought, considering she would be their very definition of a “Space Human”, and they would likely fit her definition of “hicks”.

            “Anyway,” Samus continued, “the massacre she lost a child in, it was thirty years ago.”

            Something clicked in Adam’s mind and his eyes widened. “You think it was the K-2L Massacre?”

            Samus nodded. “I think it’s likely, at least. And Morrigan is 90 years old. Her child would probably be in their 60’s by now. Maybe Morrigan knew people on that colony! Maybe I knew them! Maybe she has some pictures or… something!”

            “Samus… you’re chasing ghosts. Even if it was the same massacre—”

            “I know, I know. It’s a long shot. I’m setting myself up for disappointment. But, I just… if there is anything out here. Anything… I need to know. I want to know about who I was when I was human. I just want to know how much of me is a result of the genetic engineering. About who I would have been if I hadn’t been made into… well, at the risk of disappointing you… before I was turned into a bioweapon.”

            Samus knew Adam’s stance on bioweapons. He didn’t have anything against partial-humans, but he hated the idea of sentient weaponized life forms. He believed that living things should not be altered for the sake of their utility or turned into tools of war for governments to direct. To him, building a sentient creature for a purpose took away its free will, and he had been a strong proponent on the Federation’s ban on bioweapon research for as long as she had known him. It was part of why, despite how obvious her semi-human status was, she had never told him outright about what she was.

            “You said you were raised on Zebes?” Adam looked angry, very angry, but Samus could tell it wasn’t directed at her. “You must have been… changed when you were still a child.”

            Samus nodded. “I wouldn’t have survived otherwise.”

            “So they let you live only to take you back with them to Zebes to try to make a human weapon? I knew the Space Pirates were disgusting but I never thought this was how it happened!” He stood up suddenly, his fists clenched as he looked away from Samus.

            “Um… Adam? Are you implying you think I’m part Space Pirate?”

            “Hmm?” He looked back over to her, anger giving way to confusion. “Well, yeah. You survived their attack. You grew up on Zebes. Their doors seem to be specifically designed to be opened by your weapons.”

            Samus just stared at Adam before breaking into an uncontrollable laugh. “You! You! You think!” She had fallen on top of her pile of clothes and was laughing so hard she could barely get a breath or a word in edgewise. “You think— that— that I’m part Space Pirate?!”

            “What…” Adam fumbled, not sure whether he should still be angry or amused or both. “What are you getting at? That weird language you speak that no one understands, isn’t that Space Pirate?”

            Samus slunk off the bed and onto her knees, still clutching at her stomach trying to get herself to calm down. “No… that’s not Space Pirate.” Finally catching a breath, she stood up again. “I speak Chozo. Chozo is my primary language. I also speak six other languages, but no, not Space Pirate. I mean… I know a few words of it, but they mostly translate to things like ‘No, please!’, ‘Die Hunter!’, ‘Self Destruct sequence activated’, and ‘Intruder detected.’ I don’t even know how to ask where the bathroom is in Space Pirate.”

            “Your primary language is Chozo?” Adam had always wondered what that odd hint of an accent was when she had first joined the Federation Army. It was not quite like anything he had ever heard, but then again, Samus was not like anyone he had ever met.

            “That’s right. I was rescued from K-2L by the Chozo. They were the ones who inhabited Zebes thirty years ago, before the Space Pirates took over. In order for me to survive on their planet, I had to be infused with their blood and genetically altered. I don’t believe their intention was to make me into a weapon, but I chose the path of the warrior when I turned 13. I was already highly trained at that point, and I entered into a covenant with the Chozo Elders that I would carry out their mission of trying to end Galactic War. In exchange, I received the Power Suit.”

            Just then, a knock came from the door, and Samus and Adam turned to look at it. Maggie stood in the doorway, eyeing the two of them suspiciously.

            “Hope ya’ll got separate rooms. Grandmama would not approve of you sharing a bed under her roof.”

            “I’m rooming down the hall,” Adam said, looking around for anything that might have been his. “I left my bags in there already.”

            Maggie raised an eyebrow and looked over at Samus’s form. Without her coat, the bounty hunter was now wearing a tight cream-colored crop top that left her arms bare but extended to her throat in a turtleneck. Her toned midriff was very noticeable, and Maggie doubted her grandmother would have approved. But Space People had different standard of modesty than Earthlings did.

            “At any rate,” Maggie shrugged and turned to walk away, “lunch is ready, so you’d better hurry down.”

            As soon as she was out of earshot, Adam turned back to Samus. “Will you be eating with us, Lady?” He doubted she had eaten at all in the past day, but he also knew her body was different, and she was not crazy about eating in front of people she didn’t know.

            Samus shook her head and turned back to her suitcase. “I need to unpack my security equipment and begin setting up. I need to scope out the property and figure out where to put my cameras and drones.”

            Adam just nodded, although he really did think she needed to eat something. But once Samus switched into work-made, there was no switching her out of it. Still, it was strange to see her taking a defensive position instead of actively pursuing a target. He had not even been aware she owned drones or any equipment to set up a private security system.

            “Anything I can bring you back?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

            “Coffee. Black.”

* * *

 

It was dark by the time Samus went out to set up her equipment, and it had gotten considerably colder. She had stayed up in her room most of the day, syncing her cameras to her central device’s screen, and after that, she had sent her drones around the parameter of the property to scout out the best locations for surveillance.

            Dressed in her combat boots, black jeans, and a black turtle neck sweater, Samus blended in well with the darkness. I actually amazed her that an area populated by humans could be so dark. She had spent many a night on Zebes and other unpopulated planets just staring up at billions of stars that speckled the sky, but never had she thought she would be able to do that from Earth.

            The light of the half-moon cast a silver glow over the property that made the grassy hills and surrounding woods look almost blue. And for as still as the night was, there was a great cacophony of sounds all around her from the chirping of crickets to the sounds of the bullfrogs. She couldn’t identify any of the sounds, of course, having never encountered any of those animals.

            It was eerie for her, walking down the long gravel driveway, listening to the sounds of her boots scattering the rocks and trying to listen for any suspicious sounds. But they were all suspicious sounds, and every creature who made them was as alien to her as a zebesian life form would be to an Earthling. She found her hand running along the gun holstered to her right hip as she approached the massive front gates. She knew Morrigan likely already had a security camera here, but her own were superior and harder to find. Using tweezers, she carefully set several tiny cameras around the fence. Each one was roughly the size of a pin head, but they were tiny domes, and the cameras inside had a wide range of rotation they could use to follow a target.

            It took roughly an hour for her to set cameras around the entire parameter. She tried to be as thorough as possible before moving onto he next task. Placing the camera equipment back into her black messenger bag, she took out another small device and headed directly toward the stream. Many people might have thought it was unnecessary, but she tested the water to make sure it had not been tampered with. She doubted anyone would drink from it, but she needed to check to see if there were any signs of foul play. As far as she knew, the Purists had no idea where Maggie was, but she couldn’t know for sure.

            Samus had just confirmed that the water was safe when she suddenly heard a rustling in the grass behind her. Hand on her weapon, she spun around to see the most bizarre creature she had seen on this planet so far.

            Before her stood a massive horse-like… _thing._ It was some sort of four-legged mammal with a body similar to a horse, but upon its head were a massive set of antlers that could easily gore her if it attempted to charge. Quickly estimating its size and drawing her weapon, Samus realized it weighed as least double what she did, possibly much more. Whatever this thing was, it must have been dangerous. As soon as she took a step forward, its ears shot up and it regarded her with full attention. In the darkness, she could make out two more like it coming up from behind, although these two did not possess antlers.

            Samus raised her gun and pointed it right at the head of the largest creature. Suddenly wishing she had worn her powersuit, she braced herself for the battle against these monstrous beasts. She was about to pull the trigger when something caught her eye just behind one of the smaller monsters. A very small version of the creatures stepped out awkwardly from behind one of the un-antlered ones. Its slender legs seemed unused to walking, but unlike the larger three, it tried walking toward her, looking almost like a curious pet. The moonlight illuminated its back, which was covered in white spots, and it jogged a long forgotten memory in Samus’s mind. She had seen these things before… at some point. But when?

            As soon as she took a step closer to get a better look, though, they all turned and ran back toward the forest. As they pranced past her line of cameras, her watch beeped and vibrated to let her know it detected the exiting life forms. She didn’t bother pulling up the footage on the screen, and instead, she racked her brain trying to figure out where she had seen these things before.

            It had been a movie… animated. Maybe when she was a child? It was right there, just at the edges of her mind, but she couldn’t quite grasp it. Something with a B? Yes, something that started with a B. Boom… Bam… Bim… Bimbo? Was that what the cartoon movie had been called? It didn’t sound right, but she had decided to name the creatures “bimbos.” And the movie? There had been a little bimbo but its mother or father had gotten killed somehow? A hunter? It didn’t matter. In the morning, she would ask Adam about the bimbos and see if he knew exactly how dangerous they were.

            There was one last thing Samus wanted to check before going in for the night. On one of her drone sweeps, she had noticed a small cemetery on the sides of one of the hills. It was not visible from any point at the parameter or from the house as it was set inside a small cluster of trees. It took Samus a good minute to find it. It must have purposefully been set up in a somewhat obscure location. Perhaps the Sinclaire family had not liked walking past the headstones and being reminded of their fallen relatives. Samus thought it would weird her out to live on the same property as the bodies of her deceased loved ones, but she also knew big legacy families often kept family burial plots on their land.

            She turned on her flashlight and surveyed the rows of head stones. Most were of your standard thigh-high variety, but a few were large obelisks that dwarfed Samus. She figured those were probably the major matriarch or patriarch figures of generations gone by. The previous Morrigans.

            She shuddered as she wondered what Morrigan thought about living within walking distance of where she would one day lay for eternity. Where would her obelisk go?

            _I seem to have a sick obsession lately with mortality,_ Samus thought as she tried to shove the thought from her mind. But even she had to admit it made sense. Everyone close to her always died. Adam had survived the longest, but she had always tried to maintain some emotional distance from him so he wouldn’t end up dead by association. She had not done very well in that regard, though, and often worried about the man.

            The two oldest headstones were toward the back of the plot, with dozens of bodies between them and where Samus had entered. They were very old, probably several centuries old, and Samus had to kneel beside them and brush off layers of dirt just to make out the inscriptions:

 

_Christopher Sinclaire                          Jessica Avery-Sinclaire_

_1986-2062                                           1990-2086_

_Survived by his wife                           Beloved wife and mother_

 

            Longevity must have run in this family’s women even back then, Samus mused to herself as she read the years on Jessica’s grave. Morrigan seemed very strong and energetic for a 90 year old and likely have a good few years left in her. But “Sinclaire” had been the family name, even hundreds of years ago, and Blackacre had been inherited generation-by-generation since at least the 21st century.

            An orphan twice over, Samus wondered what it was like to have so much of one’s own tangible history. The only thing she had ever inherited was the powersuit, and even that had been modified substantially to conform to her body. But as the last of the Chozo, she knew it would die with her. It had become so integrated with her body and her genetics that it was no longer transferable. Had she been a full-blooded Chozo, she might have been able to give it to another Chozo, but she was a Semi-Human. And to the best of her knowledge there had never been another Chozo-Semi-Human.

            She turned to leave the cemetery but noticed something odd by the opening in the trees. It was in a dark corner, and she must have passed by it on the way in without noticing. It looked like some kind of tall, gold cylinder. It stood at about Samus’s waist height, and it was about a meter in diameter. Inset on the cylinder were three lit candles protected by a layer of bulletproof glass. The top of it was so dirty she had not been able to see the soft glow of the candle flames. Brushing it off and studying the three candles, Samus looked for some kind of inscription.

            Under some brush she wiped off of it, she found a small golden plague engraved with the words:

 

_May the flames of these candles burn eternally_

_Or until the lost ones return_

_In loving memory of the three we lost in the Fall of K-2L_

_October 1 st, 2204  
_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Samus never went back to her room that night. She sat in the cemetery, just thinking, until the sun came up. By the time she finally went back into the house, her skin was cold to the touch, and she was damp with the morning dew. There was so much on her mind though that she hardly noticed.

            It wasn’t until she walked into the kitchen to see Adam standing there, a mug of coffee in his outstretched hand.

            “I heard you come in,” he said as Samus took the mug and instantly felt feeling coming back into the tips of her fingers. “I figured you would want this.”

            She held her face above the cup and breathed the steam. “I’m grateful.”

            They both sat down at the wooden farm-style table, and Adam waited as Samus warmed herself and drank her coffee. He knew she wouldn’t be sleeping last night. She never did until she had properly scoped a place out. He just didn’t think she would spend the night outside. Samus looked exhausted. Her long hair had frizzed up in the humidity, and he could easily see the dark outlines of the phazon scars on her face. Regardless of if she would sleep or not, he decided he was going to try everything in his power to get her to rest tonight.

            “Did you find anything interesting out there?” he asked once she seemed more comfortable.

            Samus nodded. “More than I bargained for. It’s been on my mind. There’s a cemetery out there, just on one of the hillsides. It’s mostly just the Sinclaire family, but there’s also a memorial out there for three people who died in the K-2L massacre.” She looked him in the eyes very seriously. “There weren’t any names on it, but it said ‘K-2L’, and it had the date. October 1, 2204. One of the people must have been the child Morrigan lost.”

            Adam took a moment to process that. Maybe Samus hadn’t been chasing ghosts after all. Then a very strange thought hit him. It wasn’t common knowledge that Samus had been a survivor of the K-2L incident. She had done everything she could to keep that from leaking out. As far as the media was concerned, and as far as people of the galaxy believed, everyone on K-2L had died in the attack. But what if someone figured it out? He wasn’t sure if “Samus Aran” was her birth name. He knew, from her time in his command, that it was her legal name, but all of her other personal information, including her Federal Identification Number and date of birth, had been assigned to her when she joined the Army.

            “Do you think Morrigan knows who you are?”

            Samus shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe her family knew mine and she recognized my name. It would be a first though, and its not like ‘Aran’ is an uncommon last name. I haven’t met as many Samuses, but I’ve met a few over the years.”

            So that settled the question of her birth name, Adam mused.

            “Oh, by the way, Adam, I wanted to ask you about something else.”

            “What’s up?” He stood up to pour himself another cup of coffee.

            “Do you remember that children’s movie about the bimbos? I saw four bimbos outside last night.”

            He stopped, mid-pour, and looked over to his friend. “What?”

            “That movie,” she continued, trying awkwardly to mime the animals she saw. “The movie with the animals that look kind of like horses but with antlers and the little ones have white spots. I think they are called bimbos… and then the little one’s mother gets killed by the hunters? Or something?”

            Adam stared at her for a moment before he sat back down. “Lady, I think the movie you are referring to is ‘Bambi’. And the animals aren’t called bambis. They’re called deer.”

            “That was it!” She jumped up excitedly. “Bambi! I saw four bambis last night while I was out there! One was absolutely huge and had these giant antlers!” She tried to mime to antlers, much to Adam’s amusement. “And there were two regular sized ones and one that looked like a baby, and Adam, why the hell are you laughing at me?”

            “Nothing,” he managed in between laughs. “Nothing. I’ve just never seen someone get so excited over deer before.”

            “Well!” She sat back down with a huff. “I’ve never seen Earth animals before. I thought the Bambis were just made-up things for the movie. None of the terra-formed planets have them.”

            “Because they would eat and overpopulate and become menaces on colonies. They don’t have natural predators on any of those planets.”

            Samus heard footsteps in the hallway and looked up to see Maggie walking into the kitchen. The Martian stared at Samus and Adam, who had gone silent the moment they heard her.

            “Geez,” she groaned, walking over to the refrigerator. “What were ya talkin’ about me or somethin’?”

            “No,” Samus stated so matter-of-factly that she earned a sideways look from Maggie.

            “Where did you sleep last night? Under a tree?” Maggie fixed herself a bowl of cereal and sat at the table next to Adam. “You look like a bloody wreck.”

            “I spent the night patrolling outside.” Samus stood up abruptly and put her coffee cup in the sink. “I must excuse myself. I suppose I really should wash and dress.”

            As she turned to go up to her room, Maggie called out to her, “Hey! I need to head down to the market today, and Grandmama says I have to take you with me ‘cause you’re my bodyguard. So just let me know when you’re ready.”

            Samus nodded without looking back and proceeded on her way.

            When they could no longer see her, Maggie turned to Adam and glanced in the direction Samus had just gone. “Okay, seriously, what’s wrong with her?”

            Adam sat up and straightened his back. “I don’t know what you’re referring to. There’s nothing ‘wrong’ with her. She’s just not used to being around people.”

            Maggie rolled her eyes. “Even Grandmama picked up on it. She said to me last night ‘how long you think that woman’s been so badly shell shocked?’ So don’t pretend like you can’t tell ‘cause that bitch has cameras and drones and she still had to walk outside all night to patrol?”

            Adam was quiet for a moment as he sipped his coffee and thought about how to respond. “She’s just had a very difficult life. This planet is completely alien to her, and she’s not used to being around people. She can’t let her guard down, but that’s part of what allows her to do her job so efficiently.”

            “Well, she better be worth the money we’re paying her. I gotta admit, that was not what I thought Samus Aran was.”

            Adam put down his coffee and looked Maggie right in the eyes. “How much do you think you know about Samus Aran? What you see in the media? The headlines? The action figures? Yesterday, you didn’t even know she was a woman. Samus might be a little… ‘ _shell shocked’_ as you put it, but if you even understood half of what she’s done, the sacrifices that woman has made to keep people safe—”

            “Woah!” Maggie put her hands up. “I’m sorry. I’m not really good at phrasin’ things. Grandmama is just concerned about her because she’s not eating or sleeping. I’m worried ‘cause… well, that woman is probably the only thing standing between me and getting dead, ya know? Buck’s daddy said the only way he’d let me come stay over here was if we got the best body guard money could buy while he’s still over on Mars.”

            “…Buck?”

            “Oh,” Maggie looked down at her very noticeable baby bump. “His name is gonna be Bucephalus, but I’m gonna call ‘im Buck for short ‘cause I think it’s cuter that way.”

            “And his father is on Mars?”

            “Yeah, dangerous place for ‘im to be, but that’s where his job is, ya know? And babies ain’t cheap. And Grandmama wanted me to move here, at least until the baby was born. She worries, you know? My dad died when I was young, some kind of heart defect, but my Aunt Ginny was murdered on one of the colonies, and I think she gets a little overprotective.”

            Adam didn’t let his reaction show in his face. Yesterday, Morrigan had said the child’s father was dead. Something wasn’t right.

            “That Samus though,” Maggie continued, “she’s a Semi-Human, isn’t she?”

            “What gave that away?”

            Maggie stared at him. “It was below freezing last night and she stayed out there all night in a sweater. You don’t seem bothered by the fact that she doesn’t eat or sleep. And last night I was watching her through my window, and I’m pretty sure I saw her jump-somersault about fifteen feet in the air to get a camera up into one of those trees. She’s a Semi-Human.”

            “You’re not wrong,” Samus’s voice came suddenly from the hallway, and they looked over to see her walking into the kitchen. “I’m a genetically engineered Semi-Human, the only one of my particular kind.” She had showered and thrown on a pair of blue jeans and a leather jacket and had applied just enough makeup to conceal the phazon scars. On each hip, she had a gun holstered, and Adam knew there were more concealed. And, as always, she was carrying her powersuit in case of an emergency. “Now,” Samus continued, gesturing toward Maggie, “shall we head over to the market before it gets crowded?”

            “Yeah, yeah.” The younger woman got up and put her empty bowl in the sink. “See ya later, Adam!” She gave him a wink as she pranced past Samus.

            Samus raised an eyebrow, and Adam shrugged.

            “Be safe, Lady.”

            She just nodded and turned to follow after Maggie.

            Adam sat and waited until he heard the front doors close behind them. He was worried about Samus, likely unnecessarily. Lady was tough, tougher than anyone he had ever known. He was probably in more danger than she was. It just raised such a red flag for him that Morrigan had lied about Maggie’s Baby’s Father’s death. No, something was very wrong, he decided as he washed out his coffee cup and put it back in the pantry. Samus believed Morrigan had some connection to her human past, but he had a bad feeling that the old woman knew more than she was letting on. Perhaps she had intentionally lured Samus here? But for what purpose?

            It was still early, and now that Samus and Maggie had left, he could not hear anyone in the house stirring. He decided to do a little scoping out of the place on his own.

            Upstairs, he and Samus had taken two of the guest bedrooms on the second floor, and he knew Morrigan had gone up to her suite on the third floor. All of the rooms on the first and second floors were accessible to him, and he doubted he would find what he was looking for there. As quietly as he could, he made his way over to the door he had seen Morrigan go through to access the third floor stairwell. It was a heavy wooden door on the opposite end of the hall from his and Samus’s rooms, and it was locked with a deadbolt.

            Adam might not have been able to shoot through force field doors the way Samus could, but he had spent enough time on Earth to be familiar with these doors, and more importantly, these locks. Trying not to make any noise, he pulled his multi-tool from jacket pocket and began picking the lock. Thirty-two years in the Federation Army had left him with his own skillsets, even if some were outdated in other parts of the galaxy.

            It took him almost no time at all to get the old lock open, and the door revealed the steep, dark staircase that led to Morrigan’s suite. He cringed as it creaked, and he only opened it just enough so he could fit through. The old staircase was another story. Adam was not a small man, and with each step he took, the old wood groaned under his weight. He tried to go up as slowly as possible, but it echoed so loudly through the stairwell. Once he reached the top, he waited several minutes, straining his ears to try to catch any sound of Morrigan moving. But the old house was quiet as a crypt.

            There were three doors on the third floor, and one of them would likely lead directly into Morrigan’s room. Before he had a chance to figure out which one it was, he noticed one of the doors was locked from the outside with a padlock.

            _Well,_ he thought, _at least we know she’s not behind this one and that there’s something in there she doesn’t want us to see._

Once again, Adam put his lock-picking skills to the test and had the door open in less than a minute. Fortunately, this one did not creak, and as he stepped in, he closed it quickly behind him.

            What he saw, when he finally flicked on the lights, froze him dead in his tracks and made the hair on his neck stand up.

            Hung across the walls were dozens, perhaps hundreds of newspaper articles and photographs. Each one of them starring the Famous Bounty Hunter, Samus Aran. He moved about the room slowly, taking it all in. Desks were strewn with magazines featuring Samus on the cover. There had to be every Samus Aran action figure ever released in Federation Territory. There were even pictures of her without her armor, something Adam knew the mainstream media never broadcasted. The whole thing was like something out of a serial killer novel, and he felt chills run up his spine as he found an entire section of documents and newspaper clippings relating to the K-2L massacre.

            He had been right. Morrigan knew about Samus. There was even a handwritten Roster of the Dead amongst the K-2L papers, and there, midway down the list, was “ _Samus Rhonda Aran Born August 6 th, 2201 – Died October 1st, 2204_”.

            That caught his eye, and he stopped there. Samus Rhonda Aran. …Rhonda? Samus had a middle name? She had never mentioned that. And the birthday…

            When Samus had come into his command, he knew it was as a last resort before giving her a dishonorable discharge. Samus had been living on the streets of Neoyork for about two years before she had been arrested for armed robbery. Because she was assumed to be a minor, she was given the choice of either going into the Federation Army or going to jail. But at her intake she had not known anything about her identity aside from her name. She had been assigned her date of birth as January 1st, 2202, which would have made her sixteen years old on paper.

            Samus didn’t know her real birthday. No one in government records had ever been able to trace her since so many of the records had been destroyed in the raid on K-2L. She told him she had tried many times.

            Adam placed the roster to the side and began sifting through the rest of the K-2L files. An old photograph fell out of one of the folders just as he looked up to see Morrigan standing in the doorway, watching him with a grim amusement in her green eyes.

            She and Adam just stared at each other for a moment before she said “Pick it up” and gestured to the fallen photograph.

            Adam knelt down on one knee to pick up the old picture, which had fallen face down. He stood slowly, eyes on Morrigan, before turning it around to face him.

            He stared at the image for a long time, in silence before looking back up at Morrigan.

            A cold smile haunted the corners of her mouth.

            “That’s her, Adam. That’s your Lady.”


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

As quaint and charming as the town of Rosewood could be, Samus thanked her good fortune that Maggie actually wanted to go out in a hovercar instead of one of those primitive, wheeled death traps Earth humans seemed unable to let go.

            “Can you drive?” Maggie glanced over to her as they approached the vehicle. “I can, but with as round as I’ve gotten, it’s not super comfortable.”

            Samus nodded and caught the keys as Maggie tossed them over to her. Truth be told, she had not been looking forward to experiencing Maggie’s driving skills. Samus could actually drive a lot of vehicles and pilot a lot of different spacecraft, which was part of why taking the mass transit systems had irritated her so much.

            She made sure she and Maggie were buckled in before she started up the car and tapped her watch. “Siri, directions to Everfresh Market in Rosewood.”

            _“Getting directions to Everfresh Market, Rosewood. Location: on the planet Earth. Ground transit recommended from current position.”_

As Siri began navigating their way, Samus mused to herself that one of these days she would have to get a new AI. There was nothing wrong with Siri, persay, and having been around for two hundred years, it was one of the most beloved AI systems in this quadrant. Still, all of Samus’s equipment, from her power suit to her ship to her medical bay, was custom made, and it felt weird to operate on a generic AI. Especially after hearing about the incident on the _Nostromo_ that was all over the news last year. She had thought about uploading her own mind to the system once or twice, but decided against it. One Samus Aran in her ship’s tight quarters was enough.

            “So you and Adam really aren’t a thing, are ya?” Maggie’s irritating voice interrupted Samus’s thoughts.

            “No,” she answered, hoping her tone didn’t betray her annoyance. “He and I are not a thing. We’re just friends. He’s married. Happily.”

            “And you’re not even the tiniest bit into him?” Maggie looked at her skeptically. “I mean, isn’t he like your only friend or something?”

            That comment should have stung, but it didn’t. It was common knowledge that Samus didn’t have any friends. She had fostered that reputation, in part, because it kept people away.

            When Samus didn’t respond, Maggie continued. “Seriously though, you got anyone else? Boyfriend of your own? Any kids?”

            Samus flinched at that one. “I’m not suited for motherhood. And no, no boyfriends. No one else. It’s been… a very long time since my last relationship ended.”

            “What happened there?”

            “Ultimately,” Samus glanced over to Maggie, “I killed her.” And then seeing the look of shock in the younger woman’s eyes, she continued, “But we hadn’t been together in years by that point. She was too immature, and I was too… explosive. It was really by chance we ran into each other again. And then, one thing led to another, and we ended up contracted to opposing sides. Well, she wasn’t contracted so much as she just switched sides.” Samus’s face went flat and her eyes seemed to focus on something far off in the distance. “I hated putting her down. Really hated it. But I knew she wouldn’t come around. There was… quite a bit of damage to her mind. I got twenty thousand credits for that one.”

            The rest of the car ride passed in silence. Samus didn’t want to talk about her life, and Maggie decided she didn’t want to hear anymore about it. She thought that perhaps that was why Samus came across so awkwardly; when she did open up and speak freely, the things that came out of her mouth were terrifying. She wondered what it was like to live with those kinds of memories, to be in that sort of world, and she realized she had no real concept of it. For all that she was a tough Martian girl, she’d never gotten into anything worse than a bar scrap here and there. When she thought of ex-lovers, her worst memories were forgotten anniversaries and infidelities. When she looked to her future, she saw a life with her partner and her child, living at Blackacre, continuing the Sinclaire line. A future of memories to be.

            And then there was Samus. “Not suited for motherhood,” she had said. That was a strange way to phrase it. She wondered briefly what Samus imagined in her future, and stopped because she knew the answer immediately.

            Siri shut down her navigation function as Samus parked the hovercar in one of the Maternity spots closer to the store. She figured it would be easier on Maggie, and as she waited for the other woman to get out of the car, she surveyed their surroundings.

            Like everything else in this town, the supermarket was quaint and a little rundown. There was a smoke shop and a doughnut place across the parking lot from it, but other than that, there was nothing else around but trees and road. A few people glanced curiously at Samus and Maggie, probably because everyone knew everyone else in such a small area. A couple of people looked over suspiciously, especially at Samus, but there was nothing that blatantly gave her away as a space human, so she figured it had to be her height.

           Only one woman caught her eye. She was a small, red-haired woman in a black pea coat and large sunglasses. Samus couldn’t see her eyes, but she could feel them all over her, and the intensity with which the woman was watching her made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. As they approached the entrance, she made sure to keep her own body between the strange woman and Maggie, just in case. Unconsciously, her hand slipped down to touch the gun on her right hip.

            They shopped in relative silence, Samus pushing the cart while Maggie filled it with items. The only things they said to one another related to particular brands or sale items. Samus even grabbed a few things for herself, figuring it would be a while before she trusted Maggie or Morrigan’s cooking. She kept an eye out for the strange red haired woman, but as half an hour passed without her making another appearance, Samus eventually let her guard down somewhat. The market wasn’t exactly the Tourian, and she was tired.

            It wasn’t until they proceeded to the check out machines that all hell broke loose. Samus’s preternatural senses kicked in at the last moment, and she could almost feel the bullet coming before she saw the gunman. From high up in the window through which management normally overlooked the store, Samus saw the outline of the sniper’s form, her eyes dead set on the nose of his rifle as she shoved Maggie to the side and took her place. She saw Maggie turn her ankle and fall to the ground, and she was able to get one shot out from her own gun before the bullet tore into her chest.

            Samus staggered backward as the pain ripped through her, and an ordinary human surely would have been killed by the blast, but Samus stayed standing as she watched her own shot streak through the window and spray the remains of the sniper onto the wall behind him.

            With her free hand, Samus applied pressure to her wound and pivoted around just in time to pick off another gunman coming up behind Maggie. As she bent to try to help the other woman, a shot rang out from a third direction and struck Samus solidly in her thigh. This one did take down the bounty hunter, who fell heavily into a candy display and took the whole shelf down with her.

            Maggie shrieked just before the head of the third gunman burst the way the first two had, and she turned to see Samus, breathing heavily, but kneeling upright with the weight on her good leg. The older woman’s face had taken on a horrifying ferocity, and Maggie barely recognized the woman Adam had referred to as “Lady” only that morning. She didn’t even see the other gunman, but she heard the next two blasts from Samus’s gun and felt the blood spray onto her face. The whole experience was surreal, and she felt momentarily unable to move, as though the ground would somehow shatter if she tried.

            When Samus turned to look at her, she felt like the bounty hunter didn’t even recognize her, so different her eyes had become. She looked like a monster herself, covered in the blood-spatter of their assailants and blood soaking through the tears in her own jeans and jacket. But Maggie neither screamed nor tried to resist as Samus shot forward and scooped her up into her arms.

            One leap had them up onto the frozen pizza freezers. Another leap, and Samus somersaulted them both through the window in which the first sniper had been standing. She may have been able to make the jumps, but Samus’s leg was badly injured, and she landed heavily on her side, pivoting so she would absorb the impact of Maggie as well.

            “Stay down and get in the corner!” she barked as Maggie crawled past the body of the sniper and wedged herself between the wall and a filing cabinet.

Using a strength that didn’t seem possible, Samus staggered up and moved a full, seven foot bookshelf to barricade the door. If anyone wanted to get in, they would have to be able to jump through the window, and unless they were Samus, that wasn’t going to happen.

“Call the police!” Samus yelled over in a raspy voice. “And an ambulance!” She pulled something out of her shirt, something that looked like a metal ball with an “S” shaped lightning bolt going through it. Samus wore it on a heavy chain around her neck, and much to Maggie’s dismay, she could see it was dripping with a deep red blood that had a slight golden tinge to it. Samus’s blood. As Maggie dialed the phone, she took a second to let it sink in just how much damage this woman had taken for her without so much as a complaint or a question.

Samus gripped the powersuit around her neck. She could feel it pulsating, practically begging her to put in on. And she wanted to. She craved its power, needed to feel its defenses and the incredible amount of raw firepower it would give her. She hesitated to use it though, worried about the collateral damage it had the potential to cause and the threat it would bring to the other customers, who by this point were either hiding themselves amongst the aisles or fleeing through whatever exits they could find. Fortunately, the gunman were ignoring them, or perhaps the gunmen were all dead now. Samus had no way of knowing.

Her body finally made the choice for her though as she suddenly felt the world wobble and light-headedness nearly made her fall over. She was losing too much blood too quickly, and she finally gave into the suit’s pulsating as she allowed herself to lean heavily on the wall.

Maggie watched in amazement as the little metal ball began to glow a golden-orange color and its warm light began expanding over Samus inch by inch. Before long, the bounty hunter’s body was fully engulfed in the glow, and as it faded, she saw the familiar image of the armor-clad warrior from the news. The Great Bounty Hunter Samus Aran. And despite the chaos raging just below them, she gazed on in amazement as yet another glow came over Samus and the familiar orange parts of the armor turned a deep purple.

“I’m want as much shielding as possible right now,” Samus explained in a slightly more synthetic, but still recognizable, voice.

Realistically, Samus knew they were only using bullets, and the base power suit alone would have been enough to protect her, but she was already badly injured, embarrassingly so considering her opponents. She felt her strength returning as the suit’s life support systems integrated with her body, and she savored the feeling of being back in the armor as soon as it became her body once more, every inch of it.

Rising to her feet and looking down through the window, Samus searched out any other gunmen. The floor of the store was empty now, save for the four bodies she had felled earlier. A quick scan with her thermal and x-ray visors revealed that there were no more living entities inside, and the sound of sirens approaching let her know help was on the way.

“Maggie,” she said in her new voice, still looking down at the store, “we need to get out of here. I don’t sense any other hostile life forms and we need to get you to a hospital.”

“What?” Maggie crawled forward a couple of inches, now almost as afraid of Samus as she was in awe of her. “But you’re the one who’s hurt!”

“I’ll be fine.” Samus turned to look at her, and Maggie couldn’t see her eyes through the green visor. “Besides, there’s nothing a human hospital could do for me now. But you’re pregnant, and you fell over when you turned your ankle. And it’s my job to make sure you are safe.”

Fighting all of the instincts that told her to run from the lethal armored figure, Maggie crawled forward to Samus’s outstretched left arm and allowed herself to be picked up once again. What she didn’t expect was that the moment Samus had her, she jumped through the second floor window back toward the store. Maggie almost screamed, but Samus tightened them into one of her somersaults as an electrical barrier formed around them. Maggie somehow knew that barrier would obliterate anything it touched. And to her shock, each time Samus’s mid-air somersault seemed to be losing altitude, the hunter would somehow launch herself, midair, into another one, until the two of them flew straight into an exterior wall, and the wall crumbled around them without any impact.

Samus’s landing was perfect, and she barely jerked Maggie, who thought she might be sick from all of the midair flips. With her left arm, the bounty hunter cradled the woman, almost bridal style, as she walked with her toward where the ambulances were arriving. Maggie clung close to the hunter’s cold armor, even though she was still disconcerted by her lack of a face.

When Samus finally handed Maggie over to the paramedics, she could feel all eyes on her, and it sent her fight or flight mode just as quickly as a gunshot would have.

“That’s her!” She heard a child scream as a small boy began racing over to her, and she felt her tension suddenly melt. “That’s Samus Aran! We were saved from the bad guys by Samus Aran!”


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“But why do you have this?” Adam asked, still looking between Morrigan and the photograph. “Why is this room some kind of Samus shrine? Why the hell did you drag her out here claiming that the baby’s father had died?”

Morrigan, dressed in a dark green gown, regarded him with her cold gaze. “You really haven’t figured it out yet, have you?”

Adam looked once more at the three people in the photograph. There were a man and a woman he didn’t recognize, but woman bore an uncanny resemblance to Samus. Or how Samus might have looked if she had lived a gentler life. In the woman’s arms, though, there was a young child, likely a toddler, and the child’s eyes were unmistakable.

“Is this…” he asked hesitantly, “Is this Samus with her parents? On K-2L?”

Morrigan nodded. “Yes. Virginia sent me that about a year before they all perished. She’d send me framed photographs and little things here and there. Small attempts to make up for never bringing my grandchild to see me.”

“Ginny,” Adam repeated the name Maggie had mentioned earlier. She had said her Aunt Ginny had been killed. “Your daughter, Ginny… was she Virginia Aran?”

Morrigan smiled genuinely this time. “Virginia Sinclaire-Aran.”

Adam took a moment to process, trying to figure out if she was lying and why she would make up such a thing.

“If you don’t believe me,” the old woman continued, walking over to the desk with the K-2L documents and pulling open a drawer, “then look for yourself.” She handed him a folder. “Those are the original birth and death certificates of Virginia Sinclaire-Aran and her child, Samus Aran. And a copy of the death certificate of her husband Rodney Aran.”

Adam looked through the documents and confirmed. They were actual, Federation-issued documents, and the information on Samus’s birth certificate matched what he had seen on the Roster of the Dead. He lingered on Samus’s death certificate. The Federation had officially issued her one despite never having found a body. That was why she couldn’t find herself in Records or missing persons. Certified Dead humans were pulled from such databases.

“But why lead her here under false pretenses? Why make up the story about the Purists and Maggie’s baby?”

Morrigan laughed and shook her head. “I hired her under true pretenses. Everything about Maggie’s pregnancy is true, and she needs a bodyguard. The only part I took creative license with was the father’s death. I figured Samus would be more inclined to take the job if she felt there was no one else to protect Maggie. The truth is, the child’s father is not so much dead as he is a deadbeat.” She looked like she had just sucked on a lemon. “I don’t think it will really matter much either way. She thinks he’s coming here to be with her once the child is born, but I highly doubt it. I just hope she wasn’t stupid enough to mention that she’s an heiress.”

“But why not just be honest with Samus?”

“That,” Morrigan continued, sitting down in a very ornate red wingchair, “is a more complicated issue. You see, I spent twenty-two years thinking my granddaughter and her entire family had perished. It wasn’t until her Zero Mission on Zebes that the name ‘Samus Aran’ made its way into the media. And even then, Aran is a very common name, and the news reports presented Samus as a male for a long time. It was damn near impossible to find pictures of her without that damn spacesuit. Eventually, after the Phaaze incident, I did learn her sex. She appeared without her helmet briefly on an interview I watched. She was showing the effects the Corruption had on her.” Morrigan touched her face and traced where Samus’s black scars would have been. “It was like seeing a ghost. The girl was the spitting image of my Virginia. And although I had no proof, I just knew. I’ve known so long now… but I never knew how to approach her.

“I would watch her on television, read about her in the news. I purchased her unofficial biography, but I think a lot of the information in it is made up. There was nothing else to explain her origin. I hired a private investigator, but there were no records of her before her military service, and they had her birthday listed as midnight on January first. That’s a government issued DOB if I’ve ever seen one. Samus Aran was a non-person, a ghost. And I knew it must have been because she was Certified Dead.

“And I just… wanted to get to meet her and know her first before I told her who she was. I needed to know she was truly Virginia’s lost child. And after thirty years… can you understand why I haven’t been able to say anything yet? You know her. How do you think she would react if she had arrived here and I had sprung it right off the bat that I was her grandmother? I think she would shut me out entirely. But I needed to know this woman. I needed to know her as a person, not a public figure. Needed to find out who the child in Virginia’s photos had become.”

Adam listened intently and actually found himself believing her story. There wasn’t a word of it that was implausible. Every part made sense.

After some time, he finally spoke. “And from what you’ve seen of her, what do you think of the woman she has become?”

Morrigan’s face fell and she looked down toward another photograph in her hands. “She’s such a terribly troubled woman. You can see it all over her. Thirty years worth of damage. I think she’s become a strong, courageous woman, and I admire her, don’t get me wrong. But she makes me sad. I can see how she has suffered. And I only wish I had known she was alive all those years so I could have given her home here.”

Adam hated feeling this way. He hated that he never knew how to respond to people in emotional distress, even though he wanted to help comfort the woman. Not sure how much he could help, but willing to try, he knelt beside the woman and gently placed a hand on hers. “Samus has had a difficult life, but as a result of it, she has helped so many people. She’s an incredible person, and I think if you got to know her, you would see how much more there is to her than just the warrior. And if I may be so direct, I don’t think it’s too late for you to give her some sense of ‘home’ and remind her of her humanity. I think that’s something lost in her lately.”

Morrigan held Adam’s hand as he stood and helped her to her feet.

“You seem like a nice young man, Adam. I’m glad she keeps you around.” Morrigan smiled. “Let’s go down to the kitchen and get some breakfast, hmm?”

A spinach omelet and two cups of coffee later, Adam still found himself sitting at the table with Morrigan. An Earth native himself, it was refreshing to be back on the home planet swapping stories with another Earthling. They had visited a lot of the same places, it seemed, and with his family only just a couple of hundred miles south, they had grown up in relatively the same environment.

“So, Adam,” Morrigan said, pouring herself another cup of tea, “Tell me about your family. You have a wife, correct? Any children?”

That was the moment Adam realized he had forgotten to call his wife when he got to Earth. _Damn,_ he thought, _Marza’s going to be pissed at me. Again._ He would have to check his messages soon. She had probably left five already.

“I have two daughters,” he replied, quickly glancing at his watch. “Abridgette just turned sixteen this year, and Evianna is…” He paused and thought for a moment. “Evianna is thirteen now.”

 _Not winning father of the year any time soon, are you, Malkovich?_ He scolded himself as he scrolled through his watch, looking for his call log.

Two missed calls and a voicemail from Marza. Okay, that wasn’t as bad as he had been expecting.

One missed call and a voicemail from Admiral Dane. Probably just checking in to see how he and Samus were doing on Earth. He figured the Feds would probably be getting worried about them by now. Or worried about what she would do to the planet, more specifically.

Seven missed calls and seven voicemails from Samus. All within the last half hour. All marked urgent. Shit. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Excuse me for a moment, Ms. Sinclaire,” he said, pulling his earpiece out of his jacket pocket and putting it on. “I have a couple of messages I need to listen to, and I think they may be important.”

Morrigan put up her hands and smiled. “It’s quite all right. Take all the time you need. I’ve greatly enjoyed having a breakfast companion this morning.”

Adam nodded as he played the first message.

 _“Hello, Adam,”_ Marza’s voice came directly into his ear. _“It’s Marza, remember me? The girls and I have been waiting to hear from you all night. Your GPS says you’re already on the planet, and I wanted to make sure everything is all right. We’re looking forward to seeing you and want to know when you’re going to get over here! Anyway, I know you’re busy. Tell Sam we said hello and give her a hug for me. It’s been ages since I’ve seen her. Anyway, love you, Dear. Bye!”_

He made a mental note to call her later as he skipped over the message from Dane. Next was Samus’s first call.

_“Adam? I need you to call me.”_

That sounded sufficiently ominous that he decided to play the rest of the messages.

_“Adam, seriously, give me a call. Maggie turned her ankle and took a fall. We’re at the ER. There are more things, though, and I need to talk to you.”_

_“Adam, seriously, pick up your damn phone!”_

_“Adam, you asshole! I know you’re awake! This is an emergency and I shouldn’t have to call you four times! What’s the point of having a damn phone if you never use it?”_

The last three messages continued in the vein of the first four, each one declining in civility. Samus could be quite the wordsmith when she put her mind to it. The thing that bothered him wasn’t the colorful language with which she chose to describe him and his absentmindedness; it was the fact that he recognized in her voice that she was calling him from the interface of her powersuit.

As soon as the last message finished, Adam shot out of his seat and hit the callback button on his watch. He dashed through the front door as he heard it ringing on the other end.

“Hello?” Samus answered, sounding tired and irritated. “Adam? Where the hell have you been?”

“Samus, what’s going on? You said Maggie turned an ankle?”

“Yes, but she’s fine. We’re finishing up with the doctor now. I made sure they rushed her through.”

“Of course you did.”

“But that’s not the problem. Adam, we were ambushed at the grocery store. I took out five gunmen. I didn’t get a good look at them, but I saw a Purist tattoo on one of the corpses. They’ve apparently figured out where Maggie is.”

That caught his attention. “Was anyone else harmed? What was the damage?”

“Everyone’s fine. No one else got hurt. I followed up with the people who escaped the shootout. As for collateral damage, I broke a window, knocked down a candy display, and blew up part of a wall. So, overall, no real damage.”

Samus had a very different definition of “damage” than most people.

“And what about you, Lady? Are you all right?”

“I’m just fine.”

“How many times did you get shot?”

“Twice.”

He knew it. She wouldn’t have switched into the power suit if she didn’t need to. It was too conspicuous. A seven foot tall, bright orange cyborg was a real attention-getter in a small town.

“Do you need me to come pick you up?”

“No, I can drive.”

“Is there _anything_ I can do?”

“Yeah… actually, there is. Let Morrigan know what happened, and prep my medical kit for me. I need to stitch myself up.” After a moment, she continued “My head is in kind of a bad place right now… I’m too on edge and don’t think I could let a doctor near me. I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit… agitated.”

“It’s all right, Lady. No offense taken. I’ll let Morrigan know, and if you need help with anything else, just let me know.”

“Thank you,” she said as she disconnected.

Adam sighed and turned back into the house. He was not looking forward to having this conversation with Morrigan.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 

As soon as Samus and Maggie returned, Morrigan went to the car to help her granddaughter get out. Maggie, who apparently had not sustained any serious injuries, waved her away and assured her that she was quite capable of walking. Adam watched the scene unfold as he walked over, expecting Samus to approach him, but to his surprise, she stood leaning against the driver’s side of the car while Morrigan walked over to her.

“Thank you for protecting my granddaughter,” Adam heard the old woman say as he reached them. “I can’t bare to imagine what would have happened had you not been there.”

Samus was out of her powersuit by this point, and she was practically dripping in blood from her hair down to her torn jeans. She stood with her arms folded over her chest, glaring at the ground. “Just doing what you’re paying me for,” she replied, never looking up from the ground, the true force behind Morrigan’s words lost on her. “You should take Maggie inside.”

Morrigan looked like she wanted to say more, but she didn’t, realizing it would be impossible to engage Samus right now. Adam stayed behind as Maggie and Morrigan went toward the house and didn’t say anything until they were inside with the door closed.

“What’s going on?” Adam asked, but Samus only looked up and glared at him. She looked like death warmed over. “Maggie seems to be doing all right. Are you going to come inside or just stay out here and patrol again?”

Samus continued looking at Adam, and he realized she wasn’t really glaring at him so much as she looked troubled and frustrated.

“If I tell you something, do you promise you won’t judge me?” She seemed ashamed as she asked, and he realized for the first time just how heavily she was leaning up against the car.

“I wont’ judge you. I promise.”

Samus looked down again before looking back up at him. “I can’t walk. I don’t know how I drove home, but the moment I stood up, I got really lightheaded and I don’t think I can make it into the house…” Samus cast her eyes down again and returned to glaring at the ground.

“Lady,” Adam said, gently touching her arm and noting where her clothes were torn on her chest and left leg, “it’s all right. I’m not going to judge you for being injured. You said you got shot twice. It’s perfectly understandable that you can’t—”

“No.” She looked back up at him. “I’ve been shot before. It’s kind of par for the course with what I do. This is different though. I can’t move my leg, and my shoulder is starting to freeze up too. I can feel it spreading. I ran a self-diagnostic scan. They used physical bullets, and I think they have some kind of chemical in them.”

“You just came from a hospital, Samus. You really should have…” He stopped himself. Lecturing her was a waste of time, and she would never have let a doctor near her. “Never mind. We should get you upstairs. I prepped your med kit like you asked.”

Samus nodded. “Good. Just gotta get upstairs now…”

“I can carry you.” And then he realized how unfeasible that was, looking at the Amazonian woman before him.

She snorted. “No, you can’t. I’m almost two hundred pounds. You’d throw your back out on the stairs and we’d both go tumbling down. Just let me lean on you. My left arm is fine, and my right leg works. Just help me balance. And don’t let anyone see us…”

It was a long trip from the car to Samus’s room, and at one point, Maggie came around a corner toward them, but Adam was able to shoot her a look to go away before Samus noticed. She got the picture, and he assumed she went off to distract Morrigan because they did not run into her at any point.

What he hadn’t expected was how heavily Samus was leaning on him. She was dragging him down so badly, he might as well have been carrying her. She was frighteningly pale, and just walking with him was taking an enormous amount of effort. When they reached the foot of the stairs, he realized she just didn’t have the strength left to climb them. Without warning, he scooped her up, and it worried him when she didn’t protest. He carried her up the stairs and down the hall to her room, where he laid her on top of a sheet he had covered the bed with earlier. She hadn’t been exaggerating; she was a lot heavier than she looked, and his back was killing him by the end of it. But it held out, and he was able to ignore it as he took care of his friend.

Beside her bed, he had set out a basic Federation Army-issued combat med kit with a few of the little extras Samus kept with her. Through a team effort, they were able to get her out of her torn leather jacket and snap off her gun hostlers. He then used the EMT shears to cut off her shirt, brassiere, and the left leg of her pants up to where she had been shot. It was a good thing she possessed no concept of modesty.

First, he checked her vitals on her watch, although he was not completely sure what they were supposed to be. Body temperature of 97. Heart rate at 130 bpm. Blood pressure at 80/50. It did not surprise him that she seemed to be going into hypovolemic shock, and he deftly started a basic saline-drip intravenous on her outstretched right arm.

“Still with me, Lady?” He began examining the entry wound above her right breast. It was still bleeding, although not as heavily as it must have been earlier. But it was wide and deep. Had Samus been fully human, it would have been a mortal wound.

“Still with you.” Her voice was weak but clear, and her breathing was even and calm. She had closed her eyes and looked relaxed.

“Okay, I’m going to go in and cut out the top bullet. It’s too close to your heart if there is a paralytic agent present. Any objections?”

“No Objections.”

After sterilizing the area as best as he could, he felt her body brace itself as her took the scalpel to the freshly healed skin. He was no surgeon, but he had field experience with combat injuries. He could feel her body tense as he went in deeper, and he pretended he didn’t hear it when she cried out as he removed the bullet. She was bleeding more heavily now, and he applied a few drops of her liquid clotting factor and tried to apply pressure before eventually stitching her back up.

The end result was not very pretty, and he could practically hear his plastic surgeon father rolling over in his grave, but he had stopped the bleeding. And, truth be told, it would not look too out of place given the number of scars all over Samus’s body. He only wished he had some kind of anesthetic, even if Samus could take the pain. He hated watching her suffer through this.

When he held the bullet up in his forceps and examined it, he saw exactly why it had wounded her as badly as it had. The bullet was no ordinary bullet. It was discontinued model of bullet called a Falconite talon-point, a type of hollow point bullet that bloomed out several barbed, razor edges upon contact with soft tissue. The blades would continue to grow like vines once settled in the body. They were extremely lethal upon contact, but if a person survived, they were just as dangerous to remove, tangling themselves into the victim’s soft tissues to where they had to be torn out. But Adam knew they needed to be removed, preferably as quickly as possible, because they emitted two different types of chemicals: paralytic agents and a very potent blood thinner. It was overkill to shoot a human with one, and they had been illegal in Federation territory for the past hundred years.

“Still with me, Lady?”

“Yes.”

Her heart rate had increased to 156bpm, but that was likely due to the pain. Her blood pressure had gone up slightly to 85/55.

“I’m going to move onto the second one now. Any objections?”

“No.”

He repeated the process on her leg, once again finding the same type of bullet. It perplexed him. Falconite bullets had a shelf life of ten years, but all manufacturers had been defunct since before he was born. There had not been any reports of them in over four decades. He placed it beside the first bullet and took a vial of an anti-paralytic. As he filled the syringe, he asked once more, “Still with me, Lady?”

Silence.

“Samus? Samus Aran?”

With a heavy breath, she finally managed a weak “yes”, and when she looked up at him, she looked like she was in absolute agony, fighting to stay conscious.

He injected half of the syringe into her right shoulder and the other half down in her leg. Then he went into her bathroom, filled a small pan with warm water, and began cleaning the blood spatter off of her face with a damp towel.

“You’re really most impressive, Lady. Those were Falconite talon-point bullets. Anyone else would have been dead at least four times over by now.”

She just listened to him talk as he tried to clean off as much of the caked-on dry blood as he could.

“I know you’re in a lot of pain, and I won’t judge you if you need to pass out.” Her heart rate was down to 110bpm, and her blood pressure was 90/60 and steadily rising. “I’ll watch the cameras tonight.”

Samus eventually nodded. “Thank you, Adam.” Her eyes closed, and her breathing slowed until her whole body went limp. He stayed by her side until she was asleep, and he stayed in her room until her vitals were steadily at 80 bpm and 100/70. She would heal quickly now that she was no longer being poisoned.

After slipping out silently so as not to disturb her, he went into his room and washed up. He threw his jacket and pants into the laundry drone now that they were also covered in Samus’s blood. He put on a pair of dark blue jeans and a gray button down shirt before heading down to find Maggie.

When he found her, she was in the kitchen making a beef and vegetable stew, and, thankfully for him, a hot pot of coffee.

“I poured you a cup when I heard you comin’,” she said, leaving the pot to simmer and sitting down at the table.

He took the mug from the counter and sat across from her. “Thank you, Maggie. That was thoughtful of you.”

“I figured it’s really the least I can do. Samus saved my life… you know she stepped in front of one of those bullets to shield me?”

Adam took a big gulp of the hot liquid, realizing for the first time just how tense he was. “No, she didn’t mention it.”

“Oh.” She looked disappointed.

“Samus wouldn’t mention something like that. She would see it as boasting.”

“Oh.” Maggie seemed to think for a minute, unsure of how to say whatever was coming next. “Is she… is Samus gonna make it?”

“What?” Adam looked up from his coffee, genuinely surprised. The idea that Samus’s life was in jeopardy had not even crossed his mind. Probably because he’d seen her survive worse over the years. “She’ll be fine. She’s Samus Aran. She’s notorious for being kind of hard to kill, you know?” He smiled, more to relieve the young woman’s tension than his own. She had been down here this whole time worrying that she had been the one to finally get Samus killed.

Maggie smiled half-heartedly. “Yeah, I guess. I just… I’ve been kinda rough on her since she got here. Ya know, flirting with you and stuff just to get her worked up. She didn’t think twice about putting herself between me and those gunmen… Anyway, Grandmama will be glad to hear it. She was real torn up about the whole thing.”

Adam wondered how much Maggie knew about Morrigan and Samus’s relationship. It then occurred to him that Maggie and Samus would actually be first cousins, and from the looks of it, neither of them had any idea.

He stood up and poured another cup of coffee, wondering just how many he had so far that day. “Thank you again, Maggie. I’m going to go up to Samus’s room to watch the security system. If you need anything, just let me know. And please let Morrigan know there’s nothing to worry about.”


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Samus awoke just before the sun came up, and a glance at her watch let her know she had been out about 16 hours. That didn’t surprise her, though. She could practically go into a coma at times when her body needed to heal. It was the price she paid for such short recovery times.

She stood slowly, still feeling sore and very weak, but a hundred times better than she had been. As she began walking toward the bathroom, she noticed Adam had fallen asleep in a wing chair by her window, the holo-screen from his watch still running the footage from the security cameras. As quietly as she could, she walked over and turned off the screen. The poor guy needed some rest. Her first instinct was to carry him over to the bed so his back wouldn’t hurt as bad when he woke up, but she realized she still lacked the strength to lift him.

Nothing felt worse to her than being too weak to help someone, even if it was only a temporary state. She didn’t have much to offer to the people she cared about: She thought she had a bad temper, poor social skills, and a lackluster personality. Her strength was the one thing she had that kept her from feeling like a burden on the people around her. She really could not fathom why else anyone would want her around and always felt suspicious of people’s kindness. Weakness and depending on others were the two things that terrified her more than anything. Feeling vulnerable put her on edge, and if left unchecked, it could even make her dangerous to be around. When she had been in the army, her court-mandated therapist had told her it was likely one of the many effects of her post-traumatic stress disorder.

PTSD. That phrase seemed to be getting thrown around at her again lately, particularly behind her back by Federation officials. Not that it had ever stopped, really. She had just gotten better at managing it for a while. Now she thought, when this job was over, she should really get back into therapy and onto her medication again. Her temper was flaring up too easily, and the insomnia was leaving her too exhausted.

Muttering a string of Chozo curses, she went into the bathroom and closed the door. There was still so much blood on her body and in her hair. She removed her clothing and bandages and studied herself in the mirror. As expected, her wounds looked as though they were two weeks old already, and she figured she could cut out the stitches before going to bed that night.

The hot water from the shower felt amazing on her body, and she could feel more life coming into her movements as she scrubbed away the last of the dry blood and emerged feeling clean and warm. In some ways, it was the best she had felt in days, and she realized she was actually hungry.

Samus went back into the bedroom quietly, trying to remember when the last time she ate had been. If it was Friday now, and they had arrived at Blackacre on Wednesday… She had eaten a bagel Tuesday morning before catching the flight to Earth. Well, that wasn’t good.

After re-applying her bandages, she threw on a pair of camo-green cargo pants and a black tank top. She didn’t feel comfortable wearing a brassiere given where the stitches on her chest were and felt grateful that her breasts were still perky enough to get away with that. Slipping on her combat boots and holstering her gun, she went down to the kitchen in search of something to eat. The sun was just starting to come up and she doubted anyone else would be awake.

Foraging through the refrigerator, Samus came across a big pot of beef and vegetable stew. That would do it. Something hot and filling sounded perfect, and she was truly ravenous by this point. It didn’t even bother her that someone else had made it. After microwaving a bowl-full, Samus sat down at the table and began eating. Her body was screaming for nourishment at this point, and once she wolfed it down, she made herself another bowl.

She was about to begin eating when she heard footsteps and glanced over to the door, her hand automatically reaching for her gun.

“Samus?” Morrigan stepped into the kitchen, already dressed in a black wool sweater and matching ankle-length skirt. Her long gray hair was loose and fell to her mid back, and Samus noted it was still very thick given her advanced age. “What are you doing up already?”

“Eating.” Samus didn’t know what else to say to this woman, and she was self-conscious because her tank top didn’t fully hide the bandages that wrapped around her chest and right shoulder. “I helped myself. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh no,” Morrigan said, sitting across from her. “Please, Make yourself at home. If there’s anything else I can do for you, please let me know. I’m just surprised to see you up and about so soon considering… yesterday.”

“I heal fast.”

“So it would seem…” Morrigan was at a loss for words. The woman before her was ice, but she wanted so desperately to get to know her. “Thank you again for saving Marjorine. I owe you more than you can imagine.”

Samus stopped eating for a minute and placed her spoon on her napkin. She thought for a moment, and then finally made eye contact with Morrigan. “One of your children was murdered. You hired me to make sure your last descendant would not meet that same fate. I performed my duties, nothing more.”

Morrigan stared at her in silence, an unreadable expression on her face.

“You talk as if you didn’t think,” Samus continued, “that she and I would end up in such a lethal situation. You never thought that when you hired me I would end up taking bullets for her and killing five men in an afternoon. That’s strange, given my reputation. I only take the most dangerous jobs. I never count on the assumption that I’m going home after any of them. So why hire someone like that if you didn’t think the threat rose to that level?

“You’re paying me twice my rate. You see how that also seems strange? And this level of hospitality you have shown me… I don’t understand it at all. Assuming I’m just a bodyguard. No, you wanted me here for a different reason, didn’t you?” Samus and Morrigan locked eyes. “I saw the graves while I was patrolling. And the memorial. You lost three people in the K-2L massacre, and I think the reason I’m here has something to do with that.”

“And what would that reason that be?” Morrigan asked softly.

“You know I survived that massacre. Maybe you want to know if I knew your people, just like I want to know if you knew mine. Maybe we both just want closure.”

Samus realized that, in spite of her calm demeanor, her body had begun trembling as she spoke. She was familiar with this feeling. It wasn’t fear, but adrenaline, that caused it. It was the feeling that often preceded her anger episodes or her… more embarrassing episodes. She focused on her breathing and tried to slow it, aware that it had become slightly more rapid. Talking about her past, particularly K-2L, did this to her sometimes, and it was something she had learned she needed to accept and deal with rather than trying to fight it because fighting would lead to a panic. She closed her eyes and touched her forehead as she tried to center herself and continued breathing deeply until she felt her heart rate decreasing.

“Are you all right, Samus?” Morrigan asked, started to reach her hand out toward her.

“Please stop talking.”

Morrigan withdrew her hand and watched Samus in silence for several minutes until the adrenaline spike began to ebb.

“I’m sorry,” Samus said eventually, opening her eyes and focusing on the table. “I have a… _condition_ I have to deal with sometimes. Talking about… _that planet_ flares it up sometimes. It’s not you. I’m actually… I’m actually happy in a weird way right now. Even if you never knew my family, even if I never knew yours… I’ve just never met anyone else who had a connection there.”

“I knew Rodney and Virginia.”

Samus’s head snapped up and she starred at Morrigan like a deer in headlights. Her heart had begun racing again. More adrenaline. Too much adrenaline. Her breath quickened as she saw the outline of her parents’ faces flash across her field of vision. She couldn’t recall what they looked like exactly, but snippets of images began to flicker in and out of her vision like static on a television. And the faster her heart began to pump, the clearer the images became until they were accompanied by sound bytes from long ago.

“Samus?” Morrigan called out to her. “Samus?”

She knew she was still in the kitchen. She was still aware of everything going on around her, but the sounds explosions of the raid and images of the flames had become like a song stuck in her head. And she could see the faceless outlines. Her parents, the people around her. Until those outlines were enveloped by the outlines of the flames and their voices enveloped by the explosions.

“Samus!” Morrigan had taken her hand, and as Samus looked at her, she felt more like she were in the flames and that the image of Morrigan was the memory. “Samus look at me!” The old woman squeezed her hand firmly but gently. “Look at me, Samus! It’s okay. Samus!”

Samus was breathing so rapidly that she couldn’t get in enough air to speak, but she gently squeezed Morrigan’s hand back to let her know she was still with her. She stayed like that for a long time, eyes locked with the other woman’s, trying to communicate with her even though she could not speak. She gripped onto the present with every ounce of mental strength she could muster and was grateful there was someone else there to help ground her. Samus knew Morrigan understood what was happening to her, and after several minutes, her breathing began to slow, and she eventually choked out a very breathy “I’m sorry.”

When she finally came back more, Samus looked down and closed her eyes, still holding Morrigan’s hand and painfully aware the other woman could see her.

She hated this. She hated the way her mind would glitch up sometimes and turn her into this… _mess_. And she hated people seeing her like this. The rage episodes were one thing. If anyone saw those, people looked at her in fear, but… at least she had not cried this time. She hated when people looked at her with pity. She hated when people used these things against her, as proof that she was somehow incompetent.

But then there were others, like Adam, who understood, either because they were the same or because they had seen it before. And it was how she and Adam had ended up becoming friendly years ago. He never treated her like she was weak or a burden. He had always simply accepted her.

And when she finally looked up at Morrigan, she was met with that same understanding look Adam had sixteen years ago when she had blacked out completely and ended up hurling a two hundred pound steel conference table through a third story window. Fortunately, no one had been hurt, but that was when the court-mandated therapy began.

“I’m sorry, Samus. I had not realized—”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know.” Samus sat up straight and let her hand go. “Thank you for not freaking out on me.”

“I went through some similar things after my daughter was killed. I can’t imagine what you go through, having been there. I don’t know how you do the things you do or even how you go on with despite everything you’ve been through. I think if Virginia were here, she would be amazed by the woman you’ve grown into.”

“Heh…” Samus’s face turned red as she smiled grimly. “You don’t have anyway way of knowing that. But thanks for trying to make me feel better.”

Morrigan came around the table and sat beside Samus, placing an arm on Samus’s uninjured shoulder. “Actually, I knew Virginia quite well. I know how proud she was of her child, her Samus. She would send me pictures all the time. Samus, Virginia was my—”

“I know.” Samus smiled at her wistfully. “Don’t say it. I already figured it out. There aren’t a lot of women over six feet tall, and I started putting two and two together a while back.”

Morrigan smiled back, her eyes beginning to water, and Samus didn’t even try to resist as the woman pulled her into a hug. She didn’t need to fight right now, and for once she didn’t want to. As she rested at last in her grandmother’s embrace and felt her fingers running lovingly through her hair, she finally allowed herself to break. And she cried for the first time in years, burying her face in the other woman’s shoulder. And it wasn’t beautiful. And it wasn’t dignified. But it was raw, and it was the much-needed unbridled release of thirty years worth of pain. And for once, she didn’t care who saw; she just hurt so badly she needed to release it all at once and to allow herself to feel it. She knew she was tough. She didn’t have to prove that. She had spent her lifetime being tough, but now the dam had burst open and every bit of Samus spilled forth, and she didn’t care.

She had come home from so, so far.

When she finally broke out of Morrigan’s embrace, the two women just sat looking at each other for a while, three decades worth of catching up to do.

But that would be for another time. Samus stood up and wiped her face, regaining her composure as quickly as she had lost it.

“What are you going to do now, Samus?” Morrigan asked, standing beside her.

“What I do best,” the bounty hunter replied with a smirk. “I’m going to find the son of a bitch who put a hit out on Maggie, and I’m going to track them down and kill them.”


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Officer Tyrese Bailey had not been Captain of the Rosewood police force for a full six months before shooting at the Everfresh Market. For almost all of his fifteen years on the force, Rosewood had been a quiet town, largely without incident other than the occasional robbery, and even those matters were resolved quickly. No, he had not expected that a Purist terrorist group would ever come out here to the middle of nowhere and start killing people.

Or rather, attempting to kill someone and getting killed themselves. He had always sensed a certain Purist ideology in the little town. After all, there were no Aliens or Space Humans anywhere around the area most of the time, and people liked it that way. But one or two would come by from time to time, and the worst that had ever happened was muffled conversations behind closed doors. People feared what they didn’t understand, and most people this far away from any Federation-occupied cities had never interacted with an Alien or even a space human. People could be so close-minded when it came to those that were just a bit different than they were.

Captain Bailey ran a hand through his hair, wondering how long it would take to start thinning and fall out as his father’s had when he had been on the force. Hopefully not too soon, he thought. He was a fairly young man, no older than 35, and he had a certain look about him that made him popular with the young ladies around town. Not that he really needed to be; he had been happily married for the past ten years. Captain Bailey was a tall, black gentleman with an athletic build and a youthful face, which he accented with a trim goatee.

Looking over the reports from the incident the day before, he was just glad that no innocent bystanders had been killed. Just the five gunmen. The only other person who had been shot, going by the store’s security camera footage, was a young blonde woman who threw herself in front of a pregnant woman. He replayed those clips over and over again, trying to figure out just what was going on. She seemed to sense the sniper when no one else could, step straight into the line of fire in order to push the other woman away, and then return a shot so quickly he had to slow down the footage to see the gun even leave her hip. By the end of it, she had taken two bullets, killed her five assailants, and somehow managed to lift the other woman and jump fifteen feet into the overlooking window. He wasn’t sure what the pregnant woman’s deal was, but the blonde woman certainly was not a full human. And then there had been no trace of her after that.

He wondered if she had some connection to that bounty hunter who had been at the scene afterwards and given him the report. That strange looking purple cyborg he recognized from the news as Samus Aran.

Truth be told, he didn’t know much about Samus Aran. He knew a lot of people on Earth were real Samus fanatics and followed every story about his/her/its missions. He really didn’t know what it was, but he was pretty sure his older son had one of the action figures.

Whatever became of the blonde woman, he did not know, only that Aran had appeared and recounted to some of the officers what had happened. He wondered if she was even still alive given that ballistics had identified the shooters’ bullets as Falconite talon points, the third such report of those in the region in the past six months. It made sense that Purist cells would favor them given that they were lethal to both humans and non-humans alike. Upon reviewing the reports and the camera footage enough times, he was certain that their target had been the pregnant girl and that the Semi-Human woman was her bodyguard. Perhaps that woman was Aran without the armor.

He did not have to wonder long because he heard a rapping on his office door, and before he could say “come in”, a tall blonde woman stepped through and closed it behind her. She was dressed in a black hooded-sweatshirt with baggy camo-green cargo pants and combat boots. By the way she moved, he knew she was carrying concealed weapons. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail that fell halfway down her back, and she appeared to be in her early to mid thirties. He recognized her instantly as the woman from the video.

“Captain Tyrese Bailey, I presume?” She had deep voice that, although obviously female, had a distinct masculine flavor to it.

“That would be me,” he said, studying the woman and shuffling his papers off to the side. “How can I help you, Ma’am?”

She walked forward and extended her left hand as he stood up to shake it. “I believe we met yesterday at the grocery store. My name is Samus. Samus Aran.”

Well, that confirmed his suspicions, and as he recalled where she had been shot, he noted that Aran was walking with a noticeable limp.

“Good to meet with you again, Ms. Aran. Please, have a seat.” He motioned for her to sit down as he sat down himself.

Aran sat slowly, gripping the arm of the chair with her left hand and bracing herself on that arm. Her movements seemed painful but that did not surprise him given what ballistics had found. He was more surprised that she was alive and moving at all.

“What can I do for you, Ms. Aran?”

“Please… just Samus. No need to be formal with me.”

“All right then, Samus.”

“I’ve really just come here to ask for your assistance with a mission I’m working on related to the incident at the market yesterday. I’ve been employed as a close personal security agent to Ms. Marjorine Sinclaire over at Blackacre. I was merely accompanying her to buy groceries when we were attacked. I have reason to believe that she is being targeted by a Purist group, and I need information to be able to hunt them down.”

“I understand that you are working as her bodyguard, but from what I can tell Ms— Samus, you are a civilian and I can’t give you access to information if I suspect that you want to take vigilante action.”

Samus smiled. “I may look like a civilian on paper, Officer Bailey, but I can assure you that in practice, I am anything but. I can gladly show you my weapons permits, my Federal licenses, and my contract for this particular mission. I can assure you that my actions are 100 percent within the scope of the law, and that furthermore, under the Galactic Citizens’ Rights Act of 2198, I am entitled to that information simply because my own life is in danger. Don’t forget, I was shot twice yesterday, and I have the bullets with me, although I suspect you already know their models.”

“Falconite talon points,” he said with a nod, thinking over the legal angles she had addressed. She certainly knew her rights under Federation law, and he had a feeling that having Samus Aran as an ally would be better than having her as an enemy. Still, he was not about to cut corners. “All right, Samus, if you can produce your licensing, I’ll give you the information.”

“Thank you.” Samus nodded and tapped her watch a few times. A holographic screen appeared in the middle of Officer Bailey’s desk and displayed her weapons permits, her hunter’s licenses, and a certain special document she had been issued after the Phaaze incident that authorized her to work with any branch of the military or law enforcement within Federation Territory. With one more tap of her watch, she sent the files straight to his computer. “That should be all you need. As you can see, I am a licensed Class-A Galactic Bounty Hunter, and as such I am authorized to pursue and apprehend the principles and agents of violent terrorist organizations on the Federation’s database. The terrorist groups of the Purists are within my scope.”

Captain Bailey nodded. He had dealt with bounty hunters before, and most of them had been sleazy low-lives who left a bad taste in his mouth. But this woman, Samus Aran, was a professional and a real class act, despite her casual attire. She contracted for the highest offices in the Federation, and she had every permit and knew every law to cite. And he had learned today that the person inside of that famous armor was, in fact, a woman, but not a fully human woman.

“Why do you believe they are targeting your employer? I presume she is the pregnant woman from the Market.”

“That is correct. I believe they are targeting her because she is pregnant with a three-quarter human hybrid. As you know, the Purists platform on the concept that offspring from interspecies couples are sterile and that is why inter-species marriage is an abomination. Marjorine’s child’s father is a human-Centurian hybrid, and Marjorine is a pureblood human. When her child is born, it will be the first documented of its kind, and there are those who would rather it not be born.”

“That makes sense.” He nodded. “But why hire you of all people?”

Samus smiled. “I was actually hired by her grandmother, Morrigan Sinclaire, and she only wanted the best protecting her granddaughter.”

Officer Bailey nodded. He had known Morrigan Sinclaire since he was a little boy. She played cards with his grandmother sometimes. He remembered when her daughter and grandchild had been killed thirty years ago and how it had affected the town. Morrigan was generally well-liked and known for her generosity, so it had been an awful shock to everyone. Hiring Samus Aran as a bodyguard might have seemed like overkill, but given her history, he could understand it.

“All right, Samus,” he said, quickly typing something on his computer’s holo-keyboard. “I’m granting you access to the local police networks and data bases. You’ll find that there’s a lot that happens around these parts that never makes it to the Federation’s records, and people like it that way. It’s like the old west out here, and people tend to keep pretty hush-hush about things because they oppose interference by the Federation Government. They’re hesitant to call local police as well, but they are more willing to do that. As for a bounty hunter… A bounty hunter would have the easiest mobility in terms of gathering information from people and pursuing a target. You, though, probably not so much. People know the name Samus Aran, and while you have your fans, you’re also considered by some to be the Federation’s lapdog.”

“Believe me,” Samus replied as her watch beeped to signal her new authorization, “I’m very familiar with that reputation. Other hunters won’t let me forget it.” Her reputation didn’t bother her one way or the other. Results were all that mattered, and truth be told, her only agenda was galactic peace and helping people. If the Federation ever threatened galactic civilization, she would turn on them in a heartbeat.

Captain Bailey laughed. “I guess I never really thought much about how you guys interact with each other.”

Samus smirked half-heartedly. “Generally, they say that when they interact with each other, not so much me. But things gets around to me eventually.”

“Well, I’d be fascinated to hear more about that sometime, but I do have a few things you should know relating to the matter at hand.” He pointed to his computer’s screen. “As you can see, there have been two other instances in which we have found the Falconite bullets, both occurring within the last six months. We didn’t have enough information to establish a pattern, but Purists would make sense. The first victim was a 36 year old human male, but he was a prominent figure in a local Semi-Human rights activist group just outside of Montreal. It appeared to be a mugging gone bad, but the bullet type is what got it onto our radar. The second victim was a scientist named Pheobe who had bee trying to incorporate Chozo DNA into her own genome.”

Samus sat up straighter at the word “Chozo”. She had not been aware anyone had been trying to create Chozo hybrids. “I thought Bioweapon research was illegal on Earth? It’s a Federation territory.”

“Bioweapons?” Bailey looked confused. “I never heard anything about bioweapons, but she was trying to use Chozo DNA as a sort of gene-therapy for cancer patients. Since the Chozo had such long lifespans, the theory followed that when their cells divided, they would not lose telomere length as quickly as a human’s would. It was a fascinating theory, but ultimately a wrong one. Before she was killed, Pheobe developed a condition called Avian Bone Syndrome in which her bones began deteriorating from the inside out. She was already terminal before she was gunned down at a Hudson University Lecture.”

“People shouldn’t fool around with Chozo DNA.” Samus’s face had become very serious. “There can be some lethal consequences in doing so. The Chozo knew that. They took their secrets to their grave for a reason.”

Captain Bailey nodded and made a mental note to look into who the Chozo were exactly. Having lived on Earth his whole life, he was not familiar with most types of Aliens, but it seemed this strange woman was. He decided to move the conversation back onto the topic.

“I guess I’m just trying to point out the pattern. First was a Hybrid Rights activist. The second was a functional hybrid. And now Marjorine who is pregnant with a Hybrid. This was the first time we’ve had the bodies of the gunmen, and we found tattoos identifying them as Purists. This is an important link the investigation chain.”

Samus nodded, still disturbed by thoughts of the Chozo-hybrid woman. She had often considered herself to be the last living Chozo, regardless of her status as a Semi-Human. No one had any business using their DNA for any purpose, especially while they were not around to consent to it.

“I’ve sent you the files on those other two murders, Samus. You should give them a look over whenever you get the chance.”

Samus nodded again. “Thank you for your kindness, Captain Bailey. You have been very helpful.” She stood slowly, bracing her weight on her left arm once more.

Captain Bailey stood up as well and walked around to her side of the desk. “Do you need any assistance, Samus?” He held out his hand for a moment, but then withdrew it when he saw her face turn red.

After a while, she just shook her head and said “I’m fine” before turning and walking out the door.

Such a strange woman, Bailey mused to himself as he sat back down at his desk. She would definitely turn a few heads around here, but she would make an excellent ally against the Purists. Assuming, of course, that she lived up to her reputation.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 

Samus was not gone long. She refused to spend more time away from Maggie than she needed to, and even while she was out, she set the cameras to notify her if anyone should enter the property. If they were hostile, she would simply initiate a drone strike. Still, she wanted to be physically present as much as possible.

When she got back, she had expected that everyone would have been awake already, but when she got to her room, she found that Adam, still in his clothes from the day before, was still asleep in the chair where she had left him.

_This just won't do,_ she thought, cursing the fact that she still lacked the strength to lift him. She couldn't let him sleep like that much longer though. He would end up in too much pain, especially after carrying her yesterday.

Gently nudging his shoulder, she knelt beside him. "Adam? Adam?" She gradually began applying more force until he opened his eyes and glanced over at her. "You awake?"

"What… Samus…?" He tried sitting up, but slouched back down as he felt a sharp pain in his lower back. "Dammit. I fell asleep sitting up again, didn't I?"

He was caught off guard when Samus suddenly pulled him forward into a tight hug. He was about to say something about this completely out of character action from the affectionately-challenged Samus, but then he felt a sharp sting in his lower back, right where the pain was worst. Samus gently pushed him back upright as he tried to process what had just happened.

"Lady, did you just… stab me with something?"

She nodded casually and held up the empty syringe. "Muscle relaxant, anti-inflammatory, and pain relief serums." She smiled. "My own creations. I figured it was the least I could do to thank you for yesterday, especially considering you hurt your back carrying me and then spending the night by my side."

"Wait…" He sat up straighter, amazed at how quickly the medicine seemed to be taking effect. "You mean you had something for pain this whole time? And you didn't tell me last night when I was treating you?"

Samus shrugged as she stood and reached out her hand to him. "I only had one dose, and I knew you were going to need it."

As he took her hand and she helped him to his feet, he could not help recalling the question he was asked so frequently by other Federation Officers: how could he bare to spend so much time with someone as cold and abrasive as Samus Aran? Although he rarely responded, he knew the answer was that they just did not know Samus like he did. Beyond a shadow of his doubt, Samus Aran was quite simply the most selfless person he had ever met. He had never once see her refuse to help someone in need, and she would gladly bare any suffering if it meant someone else didn't have to.

Her selflessness endeared her greatly to him, but it also made him fear for her more than any external danger she faced. Just yesterday, she had thrown herself in front of a bullet for a woman she barely knew and then not taken anything for her pain so that Adam could have it today. And he knew, contract or no contract, she would have taken that bullet for Maggie. To Samus, her life existed only to protect others. It was the reason she was the best at what she did and the reason she specialized in suicide missions. And it would ultimately be what killed her.

"What's wrong, Adam?" He must have spaced out for a moment because when he looked at her, she looked worried. "Is your back all right?"

"It's all right." He smiled, studying the way she looked at him, true concern in her eyes. How anyone could mistake her for a robotic killer was beyond him. "It's feeling much better now. Thank you for treating it. How are you doing today, My Lady?"

Samus shrugged again, looking away. "Feeling pretty beat up still… not really back to normal at all yet. But I did stop by the Police Captain's office in town. Got some new database authorizations so I can start my hunt."

"Don't you want to take some time to rest up and heal first?"

Samus shook her head. "This part I can do on a computer while I wait. Besides, I need to focus on something. My head's been kind of a wreck lately, and…" She looked him in the eyes. "I had kinda, you know… I kinda started to have an episode this morning while I was talking to Morrigan."

Adam just nodded. "How bad?"

"Not the worst. I knew on some level I was here and not there. And I wasn't angry so I didn't destroy anything… just embarrassed myself."

"K-2L?"

Samus nodded. "I haven't had that one in a while. Lately, they've focused on my last mission to Zebes…"

Adam studied her for a moment and wondered if she realized what she had just told him. It was the most she had spoken about that mission since returning. "You've been having flashes of Zebes?"

She nodded again. "The past few months have been rough. Being around Maggie isn't helping much either..."

He regarded her quietly for a moment, trying to think of how to phrase his next question. "Did losing that metroid hatchling... do you think that struck a chord with you?"

Samus crossed her arms over her chest nervously and closed her eyes. "You're the only one who knows what it reminds me of."

He tentatively put a hand on her arm, and when she didn't tense up, he put an arm around her shoulder. She didn't react, but for Samus, not pushing him away was the equivalent of hugging. They stayed like that for a moment before he asked, "How frequent have the flashes been?"

"More frequent than they had been, but still not as bad as it used to be." She sighed and step back from his embrace. "I've decided to see a doctor again when this mission is over. I don't want to, but I think it's the responsible thing to do at this point."

Adam smiled. Years ago she had fought him tooth and nail when he had suggested that option. Until the court had mandated it, of course. "Sounds like a plan to me. In the meantime, I'll be sure to keep you away from any conference tables."

"Hey!" Samus playfully punched him in the arm. "That was a long time ago!" She was laughing. "Geez, you throw one lousy conference table out of a window, and you get labeled for life as the Conference Table Defenestration Bitch."

Adam laughed. "I haven't heard that nickname yet, but yes." He wanted to tell her that he was glad to see her laughing and being playful, but he didn't. Years ago, if anyone had seen her have an attack, she would have basically died of shame and skulked off to deep space for weeks at a time. Even if her temper still flared up from time to time, Samus had certainly mellowed with age, and now he noticed she was finally getting more comfortable with herself, flaws and all.

As though she could read his mind, Samus gave him a melancholy smile. And turned to sit on the bed. "You really should go eat something, Adam." She grabbed her tablet off of her nightstand and began unlocking it. "I've got work to do."

With a nod, Adam turned and walked toward the door. "Anything I can do for you, Lady?" Whatever she had stabbed him with was amazing because none of the pain or stiffness he should have been feeling was present. His back actually felt better than it normally did.

Already diving into her research, Samus shook her head without looking up. He knew there would be no use talking to her until she came up for air, so he closed the door behind him as he left.

The first thing Samus did was the first thing she always did before starting a new hunt; she looked up the bounty on her target from the Federation's database. Individual targets generally had specific amounts, but sometimes she could get a per capita rate for certain groups of targets. Purists in general were not targets because, disgusting as their ideology was, they were protected by freedom of speech. Domestic terrorists though, that was a different story. She knew the laws governing her trade like the back of her hand, and the attack at the supermarket against Maggie, in conjunction with the other two murders, established enough of a case to classify this Purist extremist cell as domestic terrorists under Galactic Federation law.

She ran a search to see if there were any general bounties to collect on Purist terrorists on Earth. There appeared to be a few, but they were only 100 credits apiece and required an application and authorization. Applications were always annoying, but Samus easily produced a form with her name, licensing information, and other necessary credentials. She then attached the police files from the supermarket incident and the other two related murders. On a whim, she also decided to upload her own medical stats from the day been before when she had been shot and the information on the talon-point bullets. When she thought it was enough information, she sent it out to the Federation's Bounty Authorization inbox. Now she would just have to wait on that.

For the next few hours, she combed the database Bailey had given her access to, looking for any other crimes she could tie into this Purist group. Other than a few protests that lacked the proper permits, the Purists really did not appear in the police reports very frequently. Then again, this did not exactly seem like the type of area where people trusted the police or any government representative. Captain Bailey had been right about that. It also seemed like the kind of place where people would not complain too loudly about people trying to keep out Semi-Humans, Aliens, and Space Humans.

Anytime she got a name of a prominent Purist leader, she cross-referenced it on several other databases and search engines, but never to any avail. The worst offense she could find was one case of minor tax fraud.

Samus growled to herself and got up and locked the door. All of the legal routes were leading her to dead ends. It was at the point where she would have to take one of the less than legal routes.

Contrary to the way the media portrayed her, Samus was not always a good law-abiding citizen. Yes, she was pretty good about following orders these days when she was given them, but that was only because it was in her best interest. Simply, so long as she acted within the scope of her employer's commands, she could not be held liable for the collateral damages she caused. And she was pretty sure her insurance would drop her if she got herself sued one more time. As it was, her premiums were already through the roof.

From a locked compartment in her suitcase, Samus pulled one more item. To anyone else, it might have looked like a normal old-timey laptop, a strange item for her to have, but nothing exceptional. In actuality, it was probably the single most illegal piece of equipment she owned. Inside the laptop shell was a conduit to the dark-nets, a series of illegal servers that operated their own private internets. It was essentially the black market of the digital age where a person could find everything from organ sales to prostitutes to your friendly neighborhood hitmen. And it was the preferred gathering place of underground organizations.

Like most bounty hunters, Samus knew her way around the seedier parts of the galaxy in real life and in the bowels of the virtual world. She often took contracts as a hitman under the name Mr. Grey, but nobody knew that, not even Adam. She would never carry out those jobs, of course. More often than not, she would use the identity as a way to get closer to her "employers" and raid their organizations. And just because she knew a few hacking tricks, she'd go in and leave herself excellent feedback from their accounts. Mr. Grey had a 99% customer satisfaction rating on Dark Yelp.

No, her extra-curricular sting operations were not completely legal, but she knew they had broken up a lot of drug, sex trafficking, and illegal weapon rings. If it was in the name of her mission of fighting for Galactic peace, she was willing to cut a few corners to do it, and she was far from the only bounty hunter to do this kind of thing. Although many of them, when they took contracts as hitmen, simply just acted as hitmen and accepted the money.

Yesterday, she had taken out five individuals that looked to her like they belonged in the guns-for-hire category. Their Purist Cell was not particularly high profile, and she doubted that, with the weapons and tactics they were using, they had been trained by people within the cause. No, she knew dial-a-hitman types when she saw them. And five down meant five positions that needed to be filled, and what do you know? Mr. Grey happened to be in the Ottawa area now, according to the profile update she just made. What a coincidence.

She figured it was close enough that someone would reach out to him, but far enough that it would not attract too much suspicion. She decided to let the bait sit for a while and switched into a different marketplace. This time she was a woman named Trixie McGee looking to purchase talon-points. Anyone decoding either of the scrambled signals she put off would only trace her back to a planet out in the Nine Quadrant called Lumos-5. The signal traced to an empty warehouse that was owned by a shell corporation named Galactic Incorporated that was a subsidiary and sole shareholder of another shell corporation she had created. But of course, neither was in her name or anyone else's for that matter.

These tricks were not ones she had learned from the Chozo.

She set out a few other lures on black market sites and decided to sit back and wait for the bad guys to bite. The only problem with this system was that she needed to access the dark-nets from this physical laptop because she could not integrate them with her main communications systems or her powersuit. Powering down the clunky computer, Samus locked it back up tight and hid it back in the compartment of her suitcase. There was something about using illegal means that always made her feel a little dirty, especially when she was around other people, but she couldn't worry about that. She had to figure out who had attacked Maggie and put a stop to them once and for all.

She wondered briefly what the Samus-fans on Earth would think if they realized how much more of her job revolved around information gathering and research than infiltrating planets and shooting stuff.

When Samus finally stood up again, she noticed that she felt stronger than she had earlier, and the pains in her leg and chest were not nearly as bad. Her body must have been healing quickly while she was sitting.

She was just about to go downstairs when her watch began beeping wildly. Pulling up the camera screens, she saw something that made her heart skip a beat. As quickly as she could, she ran down the stairs to let Adam know about the three figures who had just entered the property and were rapidly approaching the house.

 


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"ADAM!"

Samus ran as fast as she could down the stairs, trying to ignore the pulling of her stitches, and practically leaped down the last few steps.

"Adam!"

When she got to the living room and saw him over on the couch, she dashed in and abruptly sat down beside him.

"Hey!" She leaned in as he jumped back, practically nose-to-nose to him now. "You forgot to call your wife, didn't you?"

"Wait… wh-what?"

"And I'm guessing you left your GPS on too?" Samus stared at him. "She's here. And she brought the girls with her."

Adam barely had time to glance at his watch before the doorbell rang.

"Dammit," he grunted as he stood up. "I didn't think she'd actually come out here… no, I didn't call her back. She's been trying to get in touch with me since me landed."

Hopping to her feet, Samus raised as eyebrow at the man. "You didn't think she'd do this? Adam, have you met Marza?"

He rubbed his forehead as he began walking toward the door. "What are you so worked up about? Marza and the girls  _like_  you." He had always assumed Samus liked them too.

"Look," Samus said, taking a breath and trying to calm herself as she walked to his side. "It's not that I don't like them, but if you haven't noticed, this place is becoming a war zone, and I'm already trying to protect you, Morrigan, and Maggie. If you had just called her back, she wouldn't have come here."

Adam stopped and looked at her, his face suddenly hard. "I can take care of my own family, Samus. I don't need you to do that. And I certainly don't need you to protect me." He brushed her off and turned away, continuing toward the front door.

Samus stopped where she was and watched him go, wondering if he realized how his words affected her. She would never know how to explain that to him if he ever asked, but in the human world, Adam's family had been the closest thing she had ever had to one, and now she felt brushed off as the "extra" person again. Marza had been the closest thing to a mother she could remember, and she had even been with them when their daughters were born.

Well, if he didn't want her by his side, she would just have to disregard his wishes. Even if he claimed he didn't need her to protect them, she would. Adam was away from home a lot, and he could get very defensive when he felt people were implying he wasn't a good father or that he wasn't enough. Samus knew he provided well, but he was absent more than he should have been. It wasn't because he didn't care about Marza and the girls. On the contrary, it was because he was afraid. Adam had been in the Federation Army since he was eighteen. Years of war had had their effects in very obvious ways on Samus, but they also had their effects on Adam. His were just more subtle. He wouldn't throw conference tables out of windows or have panic attacks, but he tended to drown himself in work and had a hard time switching out of that mode when he was around his family.

Despite her initial inclination to be angry, Samus understood the situation and made up her mind to try not to be offended by it. After all, he had been patient with her mood swings. Trying to be mindful of her temper, Samus followed her friend toward the door.

Marza, Abridgette, and Evianna were standing in the foyer, taking off their coats, when Samus walked in. She realized what an incredibly long time it had been since she had seen them. Abridgette, the older of the two girls, had been going into middle school last time she saw her. Now the girl was a young woman, slender and nearly as tall as her father. Her light brown hair had gotten very long, and it was pin-straight, but her face reflected so much of Adam it was almost eerie. Evianna looked more like her mother. Marza was a short woman, a little rounder now than she had been years ago, but her sharp brown eyes were quick to pick up on everything, and Samus knew she could move quick as a whip when she wanted. Her hair was the same color as Abridgette's, but that was where their resemblance ended.

Evianna, the younger daughter, looked about thirteen now. Though she was obviously still growing, her features had always been shorter and stockier than her sister's. She might have been a young Marza, if it were not for her bright red hair and green eyes. In that respect, she did not resemble anyone in her family.

"Hello, Sam!" Marza called out to her as she passed her long, red coat off to a very frustrated looking Adam. "How have you been? It's been too long!"

Before Samus had a chance to react, Marza had thrown her arms around the bounty hunter and kissed her on the cheek.

"Hello, Marza," Samus said, trying to fight the instinct to become rigid in the woman's embrace. She tentatively returned the hug. "It has been a long time."

As the two separated, Marza stepped back and looked Samus up and down. "You've lost some weight, Sam. It looks really good! I'm going to have to cook you something and make sure you eat." Not dropping her cue, she turned to Adam. "And you, you've got some nerve, Adam Malkovich! You've been on this planet three days now and you couldn't return a single phone call? The girls and I have been worried sick about you! It's bad enough you're out in space for months at a time, but you're finally here, and you can't drop me a line?"

Adam's mouth was set in a tight line, his normally stoic face looking harder than usual, but at the same time, Samus thought the commander had never looked so much like he had his tail between his legs. Abridgette and Evianna just stood quietly, obviously feeling awkward. As Marza continued to chew Adam out, Samus walked over to the girls.

"Hello, girls." She smiled and tried to look like a good hostess, although she mostly felt weird doing that when these were uninvited guests and it wasn't even her house. "You two have gotten so tall! Why don't you let me take your coats for you?"

Wordlessly, Abridgette and Evianna handed over a navy blue coat and a forest green one respectively. The looks they gave her seemed to say "We're sorry for out embarrassing parents." Samus just smiled and nodded. She understood what they did not have to say.

"Would you girls like anything? Hot chocolates, perhaps? It must be freezing out there." And sure enough, as she said that, Samus looked out the window and saw it had started to snow.

"Yes, please!" Evianna managed sheepishly, the young girl's green eyes suddenly bright with excitement. "Thank you, Aunt Sam."

"Yeah." Abridgette folded her arms and shifted uncomfortably. "Thanks." She had that awkward teenage human self-consciousness, and Samus wondered if Adam had been the same when he was younger.

Samus led them into the kitchen, and they sat at the table as she began fixing their beverages. She really didn't think Morrigan would mind, but she knew she would pick up more the next time she went to the market… assuming she ever went back to that market again. There was something about being shot multiple times that could really spoil a location.

"Here you go, girls," she said as she placed two steaming mugs of hot chocolate on the table and took a third mug for herself.

"Thank you!" Evianna smiled. She radiated with the same warmth her mother possessed, and Samus decided this one would be a force to be reckoned with when she grew up. She absently wondered if Marza had finished scolding her husband yet.

Abridgette just nodded, looking bored, but Samus could tell she was enjoying the chocolate.

"So what's going on in your lives, girls? We've got a few years of catching up to do." Samus generally didn't like babysitting, but there was something novel about just knowing she had known these two young women since their births. She had watched them grow from crying potato-looking things to young adults. It was an incredible feeling, but it made her wonder how much she had changed over the years. So much time had gone by without her realizing it.

"Abby's got a boyfriend," Evianna quipped with a sly glance over to her sister who turned bright scarlet at the words.

"Oh?" Samus wasn't super interested in teenage dating gossip, but she feigned interest to try to keep the girls engaged. She wondered if Adam knew.

"He's not officially my boyfriend yet," Abridgette grumbled, looking into her mug. "We haven't put it up on FaceSpace yet. And why do you have to go telling everyone my business all the time, Evie?"

Evianna shrugged. "It's just Aunt Sam. She's cool."

Samus took that as a compliment and turned to Abridgette. "So who is the lucky boy who gets to be your unofficial boyfriend?"

Abridgette shrugged and avoided eye contact. "It's just that boy Hector from down the block." She didn't see the color drain from Samus's face at the boy's name or the look of shock in the older woman's eyes.

Evianna picked up on it but didn't say anything.

"Hector?" Samus asked. "Hector Fields?"

Still not looking up, Abridgette nodded. "Yeah, how'd you know that?"

Catching herself and regaining her composure as quickly as she had lost it, Samus shook her head. "I just… knew his father a long time ago. We served together under Adam's command when I was in the Galactic Federation Army. I know he lives around your area." Her face betrayed no sign that she had been so bothered only seconds before.

Taking that as a cue to steer the conversation elsewhere, Evianna grinned and said, "How have you been, Aunt Sam? I've seen your missions on news! Any good stories?"

Samus grinned. There were some aspects of her career she hated talking about, but there were others she absolutely loved sharing with the right audience. Evianna had always asked her about her travels and listened enthusiastically as she described all of the planets she visited. Even Abridgette looked up and seemed somewhat excited at the prospect of hearing another of Samus's tales. She usually left out the really violent or disturbing parts when she was talking to the girls and focused more on the exploration aspects. As happy to be talking as they were to be listening, Samus began to tell them about her mission years ago on Talon IV, describing in great detail all of the different regions and ancient ruins.

Samus really loved the exploration aspects of her missions, particularly any time she got to visit planets with ancient ruins. There was something about seeing the parts of worlds gone by, civilizations past. Going to planets no Galactic citizen had been to before. She thought that perhaps, had her life been different and she had a choice in her profession, she would have enjoyed being an archeologist. Not necessarily the real kind, but more of the Indiana Jones type. She could go raid tombs and stuff, or whatever imaginary archeologists did.

She was just about to start talking about Phendrana when her phone began to ring. The caller ID on her watch showed a number with a local area code.

"Excuse me for a minute, girls. I need to take this."

She stood up from the table and pulled an earpiece from her sweatshirt pocket. On her way to the front door, she peeked in the living room and saw Adam and Marza holding hands and talking calmly on the couch. She knew they'd get to that point eventually.

When she was outside, she picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Ms. Aran, I presume?" The caller was a woman with the slightest hint of a Spanish accent.

"Ms. Aran is in her office at the moment. May I ask who's calling?"

"This is Officer Rodriguez from Rosewood PD. I'm doing a follow up call at the request of Captain Bailey. May I speak to Ms. Aran?"

"This is she."

"Ah… good. Ms. Aran, Captain Bailey has assigned me to assist in your case. He told me that you are working on the Purist case in relation to the supermarket incident, and I am the officer in charge of that investigation."

"Just call me Samus."

"Um… all right. Samus, then. I would like to meet with you in person to go over the case in detail. Would you like to get together for coffee tomorrow afternoon on my lunch hour? You can speak to Captain Bailey and verify my identity, if you need. I understand that you would be cautious and want to use discretion."

Samus thought for a moment. "Coffee sounds fine."

"All right. Tomorrow at noon? At the Starbucks on Blue Tree Lane?"

"Starbucks? You have those on this planet?" Samus had always assumed Starbucks was a space franchise, given the word "Star" in it.

Office Rodriguez laughed. "You know they started on Earth, right? Centuries ago?" She had a nice laugh.

"Well… no, I guess I didn't know that."

"So does that work for you?"

"Yes. Tomorrow. Noon. Starbucks. Thank you. I look forward to meeting you, Officer Rodriguez."

"Elisa."

"Hmm?"

"Call me Elisa. It only makes sense, given that I'm calling you by your first name, no?"

Something about that made Samus smile. "Okay, Elisa. I will see you tomorrow, then."

"Goodbye, Samus."

"Goodbye, Elisa."

The line went dead as Samus stared at her watch. That human woman had not been unpleasant to talk to. Captain Bailey had also been all right. Were the police in this town the only ones who weren't rude? Aside from her employers, of course.

Samus went back into the house and strolled toward the living room, thinking absently about her conversation with Elisa. It had not occurred to her that there might be another officer assigned to the investigation, but it made sense.

In the living room, Abridgette and Evianna had joined their parents, and the four of them sat in the wing chairs and couch around the fire. For a moment, she just stood in the doorframe, unnoticed, and watched the four of them catching up with each other. This was good. Adam needed this. Their whole family needed this, and although she was merely an observer, Samus felt a deep satisfaction at seeing them reunited.

A few minutes past before she felt a presence coming up from behind her and looked over her shoulder to see Morrigan.

"Isn't it sweet?" Samus asked the old woman, who seemed to be watching just as intently as she was.

"Yes," she replied. "It is very sweet, indeed. Now, Samus, who are these people, and why are they in my house?"

 


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Samus did not sleep very well that night, not that she had ever expected to. Sleep was something that did not come easily to her these days, even under the best of circumstances. Most notably, it made her feel vulnerable, and anytime she began drifting closer to sleep, her heart would begin to race, and suddenly she would be wide awake and on guard again. The best luck she ever had with sleeping was the nights she would recline the pilot's chair on her ship and lay in it with her power suit on.

She had earnestly tried sleeping that night in a bed, in her human form, but it had not gone well. Despite her best efforts, she could not drift off into the sleep she so desperately needed. Between the flashback she had had that morning and the amount of energy it took her body to heal, the last 24 hours had taken their toll on her, and she was completely exhausted.

As she lay, staring at the ceiling, her thoughts wandered to Marza, Morrigan, and the events of the day. She hated the idea of having all of the people who had any significance to her all in one place. To most people, being around the ones they cherished was a comforting feeling. To Samus, having everyone she cared about in one location made them a very efficient target that could be taken out in a single strike. It was a morbid thought, but that had been the story of her life.

She feared for the safety of Adam's family now that anyone watching the house would know to associate them with Samus and Maggie. Despite not wanting everyone in one location, she knew she could not protect them if they went home or spent the night in a motel. Blackacre was the safest place for them right now. It had not been hard to convince Morrigan to let them stay in one of the spare bedrooms. The mansion was, after all, built to accommodate a very large family. Even though she knew Morrigan would allow them here, she still offered to let the old woman dock her pay twice the cost of a motel for the inconvenience. She was pretty sure Morrigan wasn't actually going to take it out of her pay, but she had not decided yet if she was going to accept payment from Morrigan for this mission at all. She had no idea how to handle this whole having-a-grandmother thing, but she knew she felt awkward taking so much of her money.

Truth be told, Samus really didn't need money. Her career as a mercenary contracting for the Federation had built up a decent fortune over the past eight years, and bounty hunting kept enough money coming in that she rarely needed to touch her mercenary payments. Besides, she had invested in several successful corporations over the years and owned a lot more stock than some big name investors. Samus Aran was actually a very wealthy woman on paper. However, most of everything she had was held in a trust. After her death, everything would go to her sole beneficiary. She lived a very Spartan life, preferring her dilapidated apartment in a sketchy part of a town where no one knew her name or ever bothered to ask. She was anonymous, as much a ghost as the criminals she hunted, and she liked it that way.

Suddenly she sat bolt upright, a nasty shot of adrenaline hitting her when she had started to drift off. Placing her hand on her chest, she tried to focus on her breathing until her heart rate slowed. She had made a good effort, but she was never going to get to sleep at this rate. It was well after midnight when she finally gave in, popped a couple of tranquilizers, activated her power suit, and sat in the far corner of the room, the door and window both within her field of vision. As a precaution, she disabled the arm cannon and her suit's offensive features, just in case. If anyone had found her like that, she would have found it humiliating, but it did the trick, and she was able to sleep for a little over four hours.

She couldn't say she was well-rested in the morning, but she had gotten used to functioning on very little sleep over the years. Two cups of coffee would have to make up for it, and a blueberry muffin would do as her breakfast. It wasn't that she was hungry, but she had promised Adam the night before, as he helped her cut out her stitches, that she would start taking better care of herself. She guessed actually eating food every day was part of that. Besides, she needed to be at her best in order to protect everyone from a threat she still barely knew anything about. She doubted the Purists were anywhere near as bad as the Space Pirates, but at least with those, she knew what she was getting herself into. On the bright side though, her wounds were basically healed, and she felt like she was mostly back to her regular strength.

Slipping out of the house before anyone else was awake, Samus decided to spend the morning patrolling the property. She had not done it since her first night at Blackacre. As she would on any foreign planet, Samus decided to activate her power suit and held the screw-attack-shaped pendent on her necklace until it began to pulsate and envelope her with its warm orange light. Once more, she felt it merge with her body as she and the suit became one, and as always, Samus felt as though she were shifting into her true form. Though the blood of the Chozo always flowed through her veins, she considered the Varia suit to be her Chozo body. And though she was often thought of as a cyborg by people like Adam, she knew the suit was as alive as her own skin, and once it was activated, there was nowhere that the armor stopped and Samus began. Simply, the armored being was Samus.

As she patrolled the fields of Blackacre, she switched between her various visors, arm cannon always at the ready, as she searched for any kind of disturbance. It only took a couple of sweeps of the parameter before she was certain that neither the enemy nor their devices were anywhere near the property. That, at least, was a relief. Still, she was dealing with a lot of unknowns and that made her antsy.

As if on cue, Samus's HUD began to blink, but it was only an email alert. Cursing herself for being so jumpy, Samus opened the message to see that she had gotten approval to hunt the bounties on the heads of the Purist terrorist cell operatives. She was suddenly disappointed when she realized she would be credited for live captures only. The damn Federation had such different standards when it came to human targets, even if those human targets were just as guilty as their alien counterparts. While she was perfectly capable of making live captures, it was not her strongest suit. She was literally a walking tank that spawned bombs that could instantly incinerate human beings. Her expertise was not in keeping things alive.

At the bottom of the message was a brief note:

_And dearest Samus, please try to complete your captures with out blowing up the planet this time. It's one we are quite fond of. 3_

"Cute," she said to herself, rolling her eyes.

The house was pretty full now, between Adam's family and Morrigan's, and although she liked the people in it, Samus did not care for being around so many people at once. Besides, it had been days since she had enjoyed the proper amount of solitude, so she spent the remainder of the morning in her power suit, sitting beside one the streams at the foot of a hill. Had it been warmer, she probably would have just worn a pair of shorts and a cropped top and bathed in the sunlight, but she had been spending so much time as a human lately, she was enjoying being back in her armor.

It was a little past noon when her HUD alerted her that someone was approaching. Samus did not move. She had been so still for the past hour that a little blue bird had perched upon her arm cannon, and she was admiring the tiny creature. It did not fly away until Morrigan sat down beside her.

"Sorry I scared away your new friend." The old woman was wearing a long black coat with burgundy fur trim around the sleeves and neck.

Samus shrugged. "It would have flown away eventually."

"So this is your famous power armor you're always wearing?"

Samus nodded, still looking off in the direction the bird had flown.

"It looks good on you."

"I don't think looks are its most important feature, but thank you."

Neither said anything for a while as they watched the stream flow by. Neither was really sure what to say.

Finally, Samus broke the ice. "I'm meeting with another police officer soon. She's the one assigned to this investigation. Hopefully, she'll have some new leads."

Morrigan nodded, grateful that Samus had finally said something. Leading conversations with this woman was getting tiring. "Has it been going well so far?"

"Not really. Information has been scarce, and I had not been at my best the past couple of days. I'll have to make up for that now."

Morrigan just nodded again. "Have your injuries healed?"

This time it was Samus's turn to nod and feel awkward. "Yes… I heal a lot faster than standard humans do." Though it did not feel natural, she felt inclined to volunteer some information about her life. She could tell how desperately Morrigan wished to get to know her, and on some level, she thought she felt the same. "I'm not really a full human anymore. After I survived the massacre that killed my parents, I was adopted by an alien race called the Chozo. They infused me with their blood, genetically enhanced me, and trained me as a warrior." She gestured to herself. "That's where this armor comes from. I had to prove myself in battle in a Chozodian chamber on the planet Zebes."

"That must have been difficult."

"I knew since I was a child, since Old Bird first showed me the Chamber, that someday I would have to fight there. I honestly can't remember a time before I started fighting." Except, of course, for the memories of K-2L that plagued her.

"So… I guess you've never given any thought to any other way of life?"

Samus shook her head. "It's always been about survival. I returned to the human world when I was fourteen, and because I couldn't legally work anywhere, I ended up living on the street for two years. I got arrested when I was sixteen and was given the choice of either going to prison for five years or joining the Federation Army for four. I chose the Army. Six months into my term, I was transferred to Adam's command. I served under him for a year and a half before I early terminated for...  _medical reasons._ " She paused, trying not to think too hard about that point in her life. "Not long after that, I became a bounty hunter and made a living turning in small time criminals. Once I became really good at that, I started taking contracts as a mercenary, and then the rest is history." She didn't know what else to say about her life. She rarely opened up to people. Most never knew anything about her beyond her Metroid-related missions.

"So I guess after the Chozo, you never had a family?"

Samus shook her head. "I followed Adam around a lot when I was younger, particularly when I was in his service. He would bring me to his family's gatherings sometimes, back when they still visited him in space often." That had become a lot harder once the girls started school full time, and it really never happened once Abridgette had become a teenager.

"You never had children or a family of your own though?"

Samus watched the stream quietly for a few moments and listened to the sounds the birds were making in the distance. "I'm not suited for motherhood," she replied, with a profound sadness coming through her voice despite its synthesized elements. "My life has only one purpose. I cannot deviate from that." She paused. "Sometimes I wish that were not true."

"Well… you have a family now."

Samus looked over to Morrigan, her eyes visible behind her visor. Though she tried to come up with words to say, none would form, and she remained silent instead. There were things she wanted to say, things she hid from the world, but she could not bring herself to say them right then.

"I know that won't be easy to process… but I do hope you come to see me and Maggie that way."

Samus stood abruptly. "I need to go meet Officer Rodriguez now." She turned to Morrigan, who looked shocked at the sudden movement, and offered her armored left hand to help the old woman up.

Morrigan took her hand and dusted herself off once she was on her feet. "Well… I hope your meeting goes well and you get lots of information." She had no idea how to interact with the armor-clad woman before her. Every time she thought she was getting closer to Samus, she would shut down again or run off.

"Yes," Samus agreed as she turned to walk away. "Hope it goes well…"

"Samus!" Morrigan called behind her as she turned back to look. "I just wanted to say… I hope you come home safely. I love you, Samus."

Samus froze and nearly fell over. That was not something she had ever been used to hearing. "Um… noted" was all she managed before she turned and nearly broke into a run as she headed toward the front gate.

Morrigan watched her granddaughter's form finally disappear from her range of vision before she turned and walked back toward her house.

 


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Samus decided against wearing her powersuit to Starbucks. Besides, she could not drive with it on thanks to the oversized shoulders and the fact that it made her seven feet tall. Instead, she wore a pair of plain black jeans, her boots, and a denim jacket. She wished she could still wear the leather jacket, as it had been her favorite, but between the blood spatter and the bullet hole, she had decided it was not salvageable. Still, it lay crumpled in a pile in the corner of the room because she could not bring herself to throw it out yet. On the same note, she decided she would have to pay Morrigan to get her car seats reupholstered as well. Her blood had gotten all over them when she was driving home from the supermarket.

Samus sighed. She had been hoping this would be a relatively profitable mission, and here she was spending money all over the place. At this rate, she would be lucky to break even.

Thanks to Siri, she found the Starbucks easily and parked the hovercar. One of these days, she would have to get one for herself. They had never really been practical, given the number of planets she traveled to, but this particular model was a pleasure to drive. Being the vehicle enthusiast she was, she wanted one just to have one. She thought for a moment about her two ships she had docked at Aliehs III and wondered if she could justify it in her budget to buy another vehicle.

As she stepped out of the car, she scouted out the area, wishing she had access to her scan visor. Going anywhere around this place made the hair on the back of her neck stand up, but for the first time since arriving on this planet, no one was staring at her. Instead, most people were engaged in their own books or electronic devices. Well, at least they were the same as Space Humans in that respect.

She spotted Officer Rodriguez easily. She was a small Hispanic woman in uniform sitting in the far corner, facing the door. She smiled and waved as Samus entered. Samus waved back. Of course she had done her research on the officer before coming to meet her, and she knew exactly what she looked like before she ever set foot in the coffee shop. What she had not expected was how much more attractive Elisa was in real life than she was in her pictures. Her thick, dark hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and though she did not wear much makeup, her red lipstick popped against her olive skin. Her chocolate-colored eyes were large and round with thick lashes. When she stood to greet Samus, she must have been a foot shorter than the bounty hunter, but even under her uniform, Samus could tell the woman was fit but curvy.

"Hello." Officer Rodriguez grinned as Samus approached. "I'm glad you found the place okay."

"Um… yeah. It was easy to find." Samus felt uneasy when she realized the only other chair at the table sat with its back to the door.

As though reading her mind, the other woman shook her head. "Oh, don't worry. You don't have to sit there. There's a back room I got them to close off just for us." She gestured to a door a little ways away. "Why don't you order something to drink and meet me back there? I've already got mine." She picked up some kind of whip-cream covered ice-smoothie-coffee sort of concoction from the table.

"Sure…" Samus watched the officer go into the next room, observing that she was wearing a black glove on her right hand. She seemed almost too happy to be meeting Samus for something as dull as a homicide investigation. Not sure what else to do, Samus went up to the counter and ordered a cup of coffee, black, as always.

_Cup number 3 today…_ She thought as she vaguely recalled a doctor saying something about cutting back her caffeine intake.

The back room looked like some kind of hippy meeting room. There were beanbag couches and a rug back in one corner, but thankfully, Elisa had the good sense to sit at one of the actual tables with actual chairs. Elsewhere in the room, there were a couple of couches that faced what looked like a makeshift stage. She guessed they had live music here sometimes.

Elisa had chosen a table in the corner and purposely left open the seat with its back to a wall so Samus could see the exits. It was a thoughtful gesture, and Samus noted the small kindness. She took the empty seat and looked blankly at Elisa for the moment, suddenly unaware of how to proceed.

Fortunately, the other woman broke the silence before it became awkward. "I have to confess, you know. I had a bit of an ulterior motive for wanting to meet you here."

"Oh?" For some reason, that statement did not alarm Samus.

"Captain Bailey has been teasing me so hard since he met you the other day. He knows what a big Samus Aran fan I am and how much I've wanted to meet you."

"Oh… well." Samus didn't know what to say. "Sorry to disappoint. Guess I'm not so exciting in real life."

Elisa laughed, and it was a surprisingly pleasant laugh. "Don't worry. You don't disappoint. I figured you would be just a regular woman like me." She slipped the glove off of her right hand and rolled up her sleeve, revealing a black, robotic arm. It was smooth and metallic, but very realistically shaped. "Crime was pretty bad where I grew up. I got caught in a gang's crossfire when I was a teenager and lost the arm as a result. Years later, when I first saw you on television, in your robo-suit, I thought you were just the greatest thing ever." She flexed her fingers, wrist, and elbow as naturally as if it were a real arm. "Suddenly, this didn't seem like such a burden anymore, and you inspired me to join the police force. Fight crime and bring peace and all that good stuff."

Samus looked at the arm, the phrase "just a regular woman" playing repeatedly in her mind. It was not something people called her often, but apparently, this woman had seen past the armor and didn't consider the person underneath to be a freak. "What sort of neural integration function does it use?"

Elisa smiled and held the hand out for Samus to feel and study it. "It's a 9J-10 processor with 7-70 integration."

Samus nodded, looking closely at the device. "7-70 integration is top-of-the-line, and it'll get the job done, but a 9J-10 processor does it no justice. You won't be able to get more than 60% of the 7-70 functionality like that."

"Oh? I can feel with it just fine."

"But not like with the other hand, right?" Samus looked up at her and raised her eyebrows. "No light touches? No mild sensations or temperature changes?"

"Well… That just kind of comes with the territory when you have one arm. They don't make anything stronger than a 9J-10 processor."

It was Samus's turn to laugh. "My power suit is fully integrated with my system. I can feel sensations with it better than I can with my own skin. Of course, I can dull those sensations when I'm in battle, but there's no way I could do that with a 9J-10 processor." It suddenly occurred to her that she was being rude. "I apologize. I'm not trying to mock you. I was just thinking that I could hook you up with a better processing chip, like the ones my suit uses."

Elisa, who had been looking annoyed, suddenly brightened at the idea. "You could actually do that?"

The bounty hunter nodded, letting Elisa take her hand back. "It would be simple for me. Biomechanics are one of my specialties." They had to be, given the way her suit functioned and even the life support components of her ships. Survival in deep space mandated that she be proficient in repairing all of those.

"And how could you think you're a disappointment?"

Samus felt her face flush. "It's not a big deal. It's just a technology that's more common in the outer planets than in Federation territory."

"You've been to the outer planets?"

"I was born on one. Besides, I mostly live on a ship these days, so I float around out there a lot."

"Wow. You've been everywhere, haven't you?"

"Hmm? No, not everywhere…" Samus thought for a moment. "We really should get back to the homicides. I just got approval to hunt Purist terrorist agents, and I'm looking forward to using it."

"Yes," Elisa nodded as she reached down to her bag and pulled out her tablet. "I don't know how much more I can tell you than what Captain Bailey already has. Ballistics has not been able to trace when the bullets were manufactured, and we don't have any information on anyone dealing talon-points, locally or otherwise. It seems they've only resurfaced within the past year."

"Where were they manufactured when they were still legal?"

"Well, Earth mostly. You know people rarely use physical bullets in space. That's an Earth Human thing. But the factories have been closed for a hundred years. I doubt they are still there."

"I know they were outlawed one hundred years ago, but I know reports of them only stopped about fifty or so years ago. Where were they being manufactured for half a decade after the factories closed?"

Elisa shook her head. "I don't think anyone is really sure. At least, no one around here is. What about the Federation's records?"

"No… they didn't have that information either. I assumed that meant that they would have come from the black market on the outer planets, but now I'm thinking they might be closer to here." Samus thought for a moment. "What about the chemicals in them? Adam said they contained blood thinners and a paralytic agent. Were there enough of those chemicals in the bullets that we could trace them?"

"Unfortunately, no. The specimens you gave us were too clean. The only way we would have been able to track those would be if the bullets had not been fired yet or if we had run a tox screen on you while it was still in your system."

"What about dried blood?"

"I think that could work. Machines are a lot more sensitive to chemicals now than they were years ago. There wasn't enough on the bullets you gave us, but if we can get a larger sample—"

"I'll give you the jacket I was wearing. It's soaked with dried blood." Perhaps it was a good thing she had not been able to part with that jacket. It may have been leather, but the liner would have absorbed a lot of the blood.

"That would do." Elisa smiled. "Never though that in this sleepy little town I'd be chasing down criminals with a famous bounty hunter."

"Heh… guess I've been doing this so long I forget it excites people."

"May I ask a personal question?"

"You can ask."

"Why did you become a bounty hunter?"

Samus sighed. "That  _is_ a personal question."

"You said I could ask one."

"I did."

"You don't have to answer."

Samus shook her head. "I was eighteen. I'd never been to high school. My Army career had gone down in flames. I knew how to fight and how to work on biomechanics. I couldn't get a job in biomechanics, but I needed to eat. So hunting people was pretty easy. A lot of small time criminals are pretty dumb about what information they put out there. The real criminals are tougher. I just worked my way up the line, and I was good at it."

"You don't seem like you would have done well in the army."

"Well," Samus laughed. "I didn't. I got written up constantly. The only reason I never got a dishonorable discharge was my C.O. kept fighting to keep me on. When they saw a reason to give me a medical discharge, I'm pretty sure the whole chain of command gave a collective sigh of relief." Samus eyed Elisa mischievously. "Quid pro quo, Clarice."

"You already know why I became a cop."

"A different question then. Why meet me here instead of the station?"

Elisa blushed. "Like I said, I'm a fan. Captain Bailey teased me enough about it as it was. I didn't feel like having him look over my shoulder as we went over the case. Plus, I wanted a moment to get to know the great Samus Aran in a more casual setting. I wanted to know if you were more of a black coffee kind of girl or a Frappuccino girl or, god forbid, a tea drinker."

"I guess you got your answer. Although, sorry again to disappoint. I do drink tea on occasion." Samus smiled, feeling herself relax. People didn't usually joke around with her. She had a reputation of being all business, and when that business was hunting people or taking out targets, jokes were not high on the priority list.

"There is one more thing I want to ask you about." Elisa pulled up a video on her tablet and showed it to Samus. It appeared to be security footage of her and Maggie walking into the store on the day they were attacked. It seemed straight forward enough, just the two of them walking from the car to the entrance. But then, just as they were about to go in, Samus slowed and looked to her left for a moment before continuing on her way. "What were you looking at just then?"

Samus stared at the tablet's screen, the shots of her and Maggie walking playing on loop. "There was a woman there, outside the store… she was staring at me funny. I mean, everyone was staring at me funny, but there was something about her. She was about five feet tall maybe? White with red hair… wearing a black pea coat and sunglasses. She watched us go in." Samus frowned. "I had forgotten about her."

"Understandably so considering what came next."

"Yes…" Samus nodded, but it still bothered her that she had forgotten about the woman. Between that and allowing herself to be shot, she was really slipping lately, she thought. And why was she being so open with Elisa and Morrigan? Was it something about this planet or had she just been unraveling since Zebes? The thought frightened her.

"Well, I don't know any women matching that description around here, but at least now I have something new to search for, right Samus?"

"Hmm? Oh… yes. A new lead."

"Great! Well, I should be going back to work. Lunch hour is almost up." She put her tablet back in her bag and stood up. "Same time, same place tomorrow?"

"What?"

"So you can give me the jacket so I can take the blood samples off of it."

"Oh… yes." Samus got up as well. "I'll bring a new processor for your arm too. We can try it out."

Elisa was practically beaming at the mention of the new processor. "That sounds great! I look forward to it." She extended her left hand. "It was really great meeting you, Samus, and I look forward to working with you."

Samus shook her hand. "It was really nice meeting you too, Elisa. I look forward to working with you."

 


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

As they left the coffee shop, Samus decided to walk Elisa to her car. It was an old habit of hers anytime she met someone new. First of all, it would allow her to identify their vehicle, and secondly, they would frequently leave before she walked over to hers. She didn't think she really needed to worry about Elisa knowing what Morrigan's car looked like, but old habits were not easily broken.

The Officer's hovercar had just come into view when Samus stopped suddenly. Sensing the bounty hunter's tension, Elisa stopped too, and both women ducked to the side just in time to avoid a bullet. With lightning reflexes, Elisa drew her gun and pointed in the direction from which the bullet had come, simultaneously crouching beside another car for cover. As she tried to spot her target across the parking lot, a bright blast of orange energy flew over her head and found the target she could not even see, a gunman hiding behind the thick brush at the periphery of the lot.

Elisa looked back over her shoulder to see the massive form of the orange cyborg, the cannon that stood in place of an arm lightly smoking from the freshly fired shot.

"Get down!" she heard the somewhat synthesized voice of Samus call out to her as a bullet came from a second direction, whizzing right over her head and into the windshield of the car she was using for cover. The huntress made quick work of the second shooter as the car's alarm wailed in the background.

Scouting the area, Elisa saw a third man crouched in the bushes, his rifle aimed at the back of Samus's head. Not missing a beat, Elisa drew her weapon and fired, ending him before he could pull the trigger. Samus glanced at Elisa as the Officer got up and the two stood back to back, weapons at the ready.

"How many?" Elisa asked, eyes out for any more gunmen.

"Hard to tell. They aren't the only humans here and my HUD only picks up their proximity, not their motives."

Elisa was about to reply when she heard a sudden, inhuman screech coming from the sky. Beside her, she felt the huntress stiffen at the sound as the speed of her breathing increased. Through the windows of coffee shop, Elisa watched as its occupants scrambled for cover under tables and in bathrooms, no one willing to go outside.

"Samus?" She looked back at the hunter, but the hunter was staring up at the sky, lost in thought. If armored figures could project emotions, Elisa thought Samus would seem on the verge of panic. "Samus, what is it?"

"No…" the bounty hunter muttered, gaze still transfixed on the sky, searching for the source of the screech. "Not here… it can't be…"

"Samus?" Elisa reached up and grabbed the top of the hunter's left arm, but Samus spun around on her so quickly, cannon blazing, Elisa thought for a second that she was about to shoot her. As it was, it took a moment for the hunter to recognize her companion.

"Elisa, get out of here. Put on your siren and get to Blackacre. Protect the people inside. Get back up if you have to."

"But what—" Elisa could not finish her thought before a massive form flew out over the trees, temporarily eclipsing the sun as it landed, perched on top of the coffee shop.

The creature was unlike anything the human woman had ever seen. It's muscular body looked like some kind of reptile, but its head was long and narrow, razor sharp fangs inside of its beak-like mouth. Two beady eyes shone like hot coals. Its whole body was a sort of violet-color, but a sick gray shade that warped the normally bright color. It had the leathery wings and long, speared tipped tail of a demon, and as it locked its gaze directly on her and Samus, Elisa was suddenly terrified.

"GO NOW!" Samus screamed, gesturing to the Officer's vehicle. "Protect Adam and Morrigan's families!"

Elisa could only nod as she looked one last time from Samus to the creature. As quickly as she could, she got into her car and peeled out of the parking lot. In the rearview, she watched the creature open its wings and jaws and bellow an explosive fireball into the air.

Samus stood her ground, staring the space dragon down, her own heart racing dangerously fast. There was no denying the creature's identity; she was too intimately acquainted with him for that, having already killed him four times.

"Ridley," she muttered, activating her gravity suit and sending a charged plasma shot up toward the creature.

The dragon easily dodged the shot as he leapt into the air and fired back one of his own, a fire ball the size of Samus threatening to consume her. But the hunter dodged agilely as the blast took out two of the parked cars where she had been standing.

Ridley seemed to be mocking her as he landed in the middle of the lot, his full height easily four times taller than Samus and his massive wingspan dwarfing her further.

_"Samusss Aran,"_  the creature hissed, his golden red eyes staring through the hunter.  _"Human woman, come to Earth. How appropriate that my hunt for you would lead me here."_

Samus just grunted as she dashed toward him, firing a super missile straight toward his chest. It missed, but only barely, as the creature took flight again. Zooming over her head, the dragon shifted at the last moment and clipped the hunter with his razor-sharp tail.

Samus jumped back, assessing the damage as she fired off five missiles in rapid succession. Two hit their mark, though the creature seemed unfazed by their impact.

"Dammit, Ridley!" Samus roared as she dodged his dive-bomb attack and took the opportunity to land a super missile square in the center of his skull. "Why the fuck can't you just stay dead!?"

The painful explosion angering the massive dragon, Ridley shot a fire blast at Samus, who didn't have time to dodge and ended up taking the full impact straight to her chest. The hunter was blown backward and landed heavily on her right side, but adrenaline seized her, and she was back on her feet within seconds, firing charged shots and missiles at him before she even realized what she was doing. Taken back by the hunter's speed, Ridley was forced to endure the merciless firing before he was finally able to get airborne again and dodge.

Ridley terrified Samus, and he knew that. Even as she fought him now, she could feel herself trembling, and it took every ounce of her will to keep herself focused on the battle at hand. She had faced him seven times before now, and she had killed him four of those times. Twice, he had defeated her: once when she had been a teenager and had a panic attack upon seeing him for the first time sine he had slaughtered her family, and again recently when he had beaten her aboard the Ceres station and stolen the infant Metroid. Yes, Samus had been victorious four out of six of their battles, but each time she had taken heavy damage and barely survived within an inch of her life. Of all of her enemies, he was the one who consistently posed the greatest threat to her, and he was the one who had long ago inflicted the deepest of her psychological wounds. Ridley was the one creature in the galaxy that Samus actually feared.

But she gave no outward signs of her fear as she savagely screw-attacked into his chest, grabbing him around the neck with her left hand and ramming her arm cannon into his mouth. His powerful jaws crushed painfully down on her arm as she fired five super missiles down his throat. Ridley beat his wings furiously, flying ever higher with the hunter still clinging to him. His tail stabbed her repeatedly and brutally in the back as he tried to tear into her with his claws, but to no avail. She clung to him like death itself and continued her relentless attack, even as the armor on her arm began to crack under his teeth.

Samus was seeing red with a ferocity she didn't realize she even possessed. Ignoring the pain in her arm, she continued firing charged plasma shots and super missiles down the dragon's throat as she strangled him with her grapple beam pulled tight around his neck. As she throttled the life out of the creature, the dragon's wings gave out as he fell from the sky, Samus still clinging on and forcing him down faster as she maxed out the effects of her suit's gravity functionality. As they hit the ground, she slammed her boots into his neck, obliterating his spine in that area.

She didn't know if he was dead or alive at that point as she rapid fired the remainder of her super missiles into his body. Even when she knew he was dead, even when she knew he would have been dead several times over, she couldn't stop firing. Her breathing was rapid and ragged, and she didn't realize she had been screaming until she ran out of super missiles and began shooting up his corpse with regular missiles. And even when she ran out of those, she found herself repeatedly trying to shoot at him from her cannon's empty chamber, the hollow clicks falling on deaf ears as she did not even notice she had run out of ammo.

When she finally did realize she had not fired any real weapons in a while, she stared down at the bloody, charred remains of her long time foe, not recognizing what they were for a moment. Everything just seemed unreal. Even less realistic than her nightmares.

Pain brought her back into reality. As the adrenaline began to leave her body, she was distinctly aware of where his tail had stabbed her repeatedly in her back and where his claws had struck her across her chest. As she turned to look at her right arm, she saw her own blood cascade over the cannon and saw where his teeth had cracked through her armor and tore into her exposed flesh.

Samus stood for a long time, trying to make sense of it all. She did not even notice the fearful looking crowd of coffee shop patrons who had gathered around her, staring at the being who had just slain a dragon before their eyes.

She tried to make sense of her surroundings, tried to remember this wasn't the depths of Norfair and she was not surrounded by lava. As if on autopilot, she began walking toward Morrigan's hovercar, but stopped as she went to open the door and realized how small it was when she was in her power suit. She wouldn't fit.

Reluctantly, Samus dematerialized her suit and stood before the crowd of onlookers, human once more. A few startled gasps let those around them know how shocked they were that this fearsome space warrior was just an ordinary human woman. But Samus didn't notice.

She just got into the car and began driving off toward Blackacre, powersuit still pulsating on its chain around her neck as she steeled herself for another battle when she reached the mansion.

 


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Adam ran out of the house as soon as he heard the police sirens approaching. A hard knot formed in his stomach as he saw the flashing lights and watched as the vehicle pulled up to the front gate. He did not know why a police officer would be there, but he knew Samus had gone to meet with one that afternoon. If the Officer had arrived without Samus... he did not want to think about what that could mean. Especially since Samus had not called him to let him know anything was going on.

Jogging toward the gate, Adam sent the command from his watch to the gate to open, and as soon as the police car was safely through, he closed it again and set the perimeter drones to attack mode. Whenever Samus got back, she would be able to turn them off and get through, but no one else would be able to.

As soon as the hovercar parked in the middle of the long driveway, a young, dark-haired female officer stepped out and began walking toward Adam.

"Are you Adam?" she asked, concern obvious in her brown eyes.

"Yes," Adam replied. "General Adam Malkovich of the Galactic Federation Army. How can I help you?"

She seemed a bit surprised by his title. "Officer Elisa Rodriguez. Samus Aran sent me here. I've been instructed to protect your family and the inhabitants of Blackacre. I have back up coming as well."

"Where's Samus?"

"I had to leave her back at the Starbucks, but there are other officers being dispatched there as we speak."

"What happened? Is Samus all right?"

"I… I'm afraid I don't know how Samus is doing. We were attacked. We were able to take out the human gunmen very easily, but then this giant alien appeared, and Samus told me to leave her alone with it and to come here and protect you."

Adam touched the gun he had holstered on his waist and looked out of the gate. "What kind of alien?"

"I'm not sure, and I didn't pass anyone else looking hostile on the way here." But she drew her own gun and looked out at the gate as well.

"Describe it. The alien, I mean. Did Samus know what it was?"

"I think she did. It was this massive purple-gray dragon creature with glowing yellow eyes. Samus seemed… almost frightened by it."

Adam stared at her, shocked. "A space dragon?"

"Sounds like a logical name for it. It was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen."

"Son of a bitch… Ridley. Goddammit!" Adam practically growled as he kicked a rock. "You left Samus alone with fucking Ridley?!"

"Hey! I did what Samus told me to do! And I sent backup! I don't know who or what this  _Ridley_  is, but I think if anyone in the galaxy is capable of handling it alone, it's Samus Aran!" Elisa frowned and glared at Adam. "Samus thought that if there were people attacking us at Starbucks, there would be more people here coming for Maggie. That was her priority."

Adam ignored Elisa as he tried calling Samus, but to no avail. It rang a few times and went to voicemail. If she was engaged in battle, she wouldn't answer her phone, but the fact that it rang at all let him know it was still intact. What the hell was Ridley doing here? It didn't make sense. Were the space pirates working with the Purists?

"I know you have no way of knowing this," Adam finally said to Elisa, after calling and reaching Samus's voicemail a third time, "But Ridley is one of the few beings who could single-handedly kill Samus. He's beaten her before."

"Dad?"

Adam and Elisa turned to look over at the front door, where a very pale Abridgette stood clutching her phone.

"Abby?" Adam called as he and Elisa ran toward the girl. "What's wrong, Abby?"

Abridgette held out her cell phone to her father, a live news story streaming across the screen. New links kept popping up as people at the scene uploaded video footage from their mobile devices. The headline read "Live: Attack on Rosewood Starbucks: Human gunmen Killed as Aliens Battle".

"Dad, I think that's Aunt Sam."

Adam took the phone and played one of the videos. It had been filmed be shaky hands holding a cell phone camera up through a window. He watched the battle unfurl between the armor clad bounty hunter and the massive space dragon. As Samus landed a super missile in the enemy's head, he shot out a fire blast that struck her full-on in her chest and threw the hunter across the parking lot like a rag doll. He gripped the phone so hard his knuckles turned white, and he didn't realize he had been holding his breath until he saw Samus stand up once more, ready to continue the battle.

"This isn't good." He shook his head, looking through a few more of the video links showing the fight. "She wasn't expecting him to be here."

"I don't think any of us were," Elisa said, watching the videos beside Adam. "She seemed kind of freaked out."

"She would be… but she's fighting. She needs to stay focused on that." He thought back to the first time he had seen Samus have a flashback, back when she had still been in his command. It had while she was engaged in a virtual reality combat simulation. It had been set to a simple enough mission, or so he had thought. A search and rescue with a couple of troops who had been taken by the Space Pirates. Despite her rebellious nature and frequent episodes of insubordination, Samus had been the best lone operative in his squad. He had thought she would be able to get in and out without being detected, but when she saw Ridley, even though he had not seen her, she had full-out panic attack and clawed the face of the officer who had tried to help her out of the simulation, convinced he was a space pirate. She had to be heavily sedated and restrained, and Adam spent the night with her in the infirmary. He never knew exactly what her connection was with Ridley except that she had apparently watched him kill her mother when she was a young child. She had implied she also watched him ingest the corpse afterward.

He knew she had gotten stronger since then, having been only sixteen at the time of the simulation incident. He knew she had fought Ridley five times since then and beaten him four out of five times. But she had always been prepared to see him or at least known there was a chance she would see him.

"She's strong, General Malkovich." Elisa placed her left hand on his forearm. "She's going to beat him and make it back."

Adam nodded and turned to his daughter. "Go inside, Abby. Tell your mother and your sister what is going on and tell everyone to take cover in the basement." He drew his weapon and looked toward the gate. "If they're coming for us next, I don't want them to know anyone else is here.

Abridgette nodded, took her phone back, and headed inside, closing the door behind her. Adam and Elisa took their guns and walked closer to the gate, where they waited for what felt like hours. At some point, Elisa knew it would be a long time before other officers would arrive at Blackacre because they were all needed for the situation unfolding at the Starbucks.

Adam watched every time a new video was posted to the news site, cringing each time he saw Samus take a hit, and breathing every time he saw her strike Ridley. What he was not expecting, though, was what he saw in the series of videos that showed the fight's conclusion.

Samus had been a fierce fighter for as long as he had known her. He had not fought alongside her in several years, but even as a teenager, she gave hardened veterans a run for their money. Never in the time he had known her though, had he ever seen her fight quite as viciously as she did in the video when she grappled Ridley around the neck and thrust her arm cannon down his throat. Never had he seen her pulverize an enemy's spine with her boots and continue pummeling their corpse with explosives long after they were dead. Never had he seen her shooting a corpse repeatedly, so caught up in rage she had not even realized she was out of ammo. That disturbed him.

And it bothered him when he saw the video going viral with titles like "Psycho robot loses its mind shooting dragon" and "Crazy Bounty Hunter snaps, tries to blow up dead alien." He knew Samus wasn't crazy, but he also knew the effect Ridley had on her.

It felt like they had been waiting a long time when they finally saw Samus pull up in Morrigan's hovercar. Adam temporarily deactivated the attack drones to let her in through the gate. As Elisa had, Samus parked haphazardly somewhere in the middle of the driveway. She emerged from the vehicle quickly and looked like she was about to materialize her power suit again as Adam approached her.

"Samus," he called over to her, "what's going on?"

She turned to him, the murderous look back in her eyes. "It's Ridley. He's here. He's come back from the dead again. I just killed him again, but I don't know how many more there are."

Adam noticed her right arm was covered in blood and dangling lifelessly at her side. He remembered seeing that Ridley's teeth had crushed through the armor, and he wondered if the impact had made it down to the bone. There was some blood on her back and chest as well, but the only serious injury appeared to be the arm.

"Where are the rest of them?" she asked, looking around frantically. She was in full fight mode, and the way she whipped around, scouting for enemies, Adam realized she probably was not even aware her arm was broken.

"All quiet on this front," he said, trying to gauge her reaction.

"That can't be." If she had been an animal, the hair on her back would be standing straight up. "They're everywhere. The space pirates—"

"Samus, there are no space pirates here. I've been watching the cameras for hours. There are no other beings here."

"They're everywhere!" she shouted, glaring at Adam. "They're here and they are going to kill everyone again! He's going to come back again and he's going to kill you again, don't you understand?!"

Adam stood still and regarded the hunter. He had been afraid of this.

"Don't you understand?" she shouted again, gesturing around her to the quiet, empty woods. "Our temples are burning and our people are dying! Can't you hear them screaming? Mama and Old Bird… and they're going to kill Adam and everyone else now!" She was beginning to hyperventilate as she clutched her gun in her left hand and gestured wildly. "Everyone around us is dying! We have to leave this planet!"

"Samus Aran," Adam stated very firmly, locking eyes with the bounty hunter. "Stand down." His fingers twitched over his own gun, which he had reholstered.

"Who the hell are you to tell me to stop? Ridley is here and he's killing people and everything is burning!" She looked wildly around at the fires only she could see, her ears freshly ringing with the cries of deaths from so many years ago. Samus's face was red, and her breathing was dangerously fast. She looked like she didn't even recognize Adam and Elisa.

"Private Aran," Adam stepped toward her and boomed in his most authoritative voice. "This is your Commanding Officer General Adam Malkovich, and I order you to stand down and lower your weapon!"

Samus looked for an instant like she was going to shoot him, but as his words processed, she felt her body responding in the way it had been conditioned to so many years ago. Her breathing gradually slowed and something in her whole demeanor changed, much to Elisa's shock.

Samus cast her eyes down to the ground before looking back up to Adam, her gun down at her side. "Yes, Sir." She was still searching for non-existent enemies, trying to look through the fires and explosions that played like a waking nightmare through her mind. "But I need to save them!"

"There's no one to save, Aran. The enemy's already been dispatched. Stand down. No one is dying." He took a step forward and held out his hand. "At ease, Private Aran." She seemed confused as she handed him her weapon, but considerably more docile than she had been before. Adam's demeanor softened as he said, "Thank you, Samus. You fought well today, but you need to stand down now and let the police handle it." He tried to smile, but its effect was lost on Samus whose eyes still seemed to be seeing images of the past. "I want to take you inside now and assess the damage to your arm. Officer Rodriguez will stay out here, and I will be monitoring the cameras. The drones are in attack mode. So right now, we need to focus on taking care of you." Then he added as an afterthought, "Any objections, Lady?"

Samus's eyes widened at the last line, and she seemed to finally see Adam as she reached a hand out to him. "My head…" she said softly as he took her hand. "It's… not right, at the moment."

"I know," he said gently. "It's going to be all right though. I'm going to take care of you, and we're going to call in back up to secure the perimeter." He had no way of knowing things were going to be all right. Wherever Ridley went, space pirates usually followed, and he doubted a little town like Rosewood had a police force that could successfully oppose space pirates.

Still holding Samus's hand, he tapped his watch a couple of times and sent his coordinates to Admiral Dane with an urgent message requesting backup. He typed only a six-letter message: "RIDLEY." Dane would know what that meant and send in his Marines. Adam's own troops were on leave for the time he was on Earth, and he could not have acted as Commanding Officer to them while trying to care for Samus. He and Dane had worked out an arrangement if this need were to arise while he was on this trip.

"Follow me inside, Lady." He led a very amped-up but dazed-looking Samus into the house. She might have been compliant for the moment, but he knew that in this state, the slightest provocation could set her off. She was still in attack mode, and he knew better than to underestimate that.

He led her to the couch at the center of the living room and draped a blanket around her shoulders as a fire roared in the hearth. She sat very still as he closed all of the shades, fetched a glass of water from the kitchen, and returned to her side.

"Take these." He placed two small yellow pills in her hand.

Samus looked up at him, confused. "Sedatives?"

"They'll help."

"Adam, are you crazy? I have to be ready to fight Ridley and the space pirates!" She looked furious, and he saw the screw attack on her necklace begin to glow orange again.

"Lady," he said very softly, "can you move your right arm at all?"

"What?" She looked shocked and irritated at first but then very alarmed when she realized she had no control of it below the shoulder. "What the hell?"

"You stuck your arm down Ridley's throat and filled his body with missiles. He, in turn, crushed through your armor and broke your arm."

Samus looked very confused, closed her eyes, and rubbed her forehead with her usable hand. "I can't remember."

"I know." This wouldn't be the first time she had blacked out.

"Is he dead? Ridley, I mean."

"Yes… you basically obliterated him. But you're out of ammo now, and I'm guessing your energy reserves are low for your armor to have cracked the way it did."

She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a long, slow breath. "How do you know all this?"

"People took videos and posted them online. Welcome to the future."

Samus looked up at her friend, her eyes starting to return to normal. She dry-swallowed the pills and then took a drink of water. "It was Ridley though, right? I'm not completely mad?"

"Madness is not a scientific term, but yes, from what I can tell, it was Ridley."

Samus nodded, downed the rest of the water and handed the empty glass back to Adam. She sighed. "Here's to hoping the bastard stays dead this time."

Adam nodded, his face expressionless. Samus seemed to be coming to her senses, but she wasn't in any condition for another fight so soon. The drones could take out humans, but he wasn't sure exactly how powerful they were. He and Elisa had weapons, but again, they were weapons designed to fight human enemies. If anything did come for them before Admiral Dane and his troops arrived, Samus would be forced to go back into battle.

He looked over to the bounty hunter and gently ran his hand through her hair and down the top of her back. The contact relaxed her as he watched her for a while in silence. She seemed so lost in her thoughts.

_This is the Galaxy's Savior,_ he thought, recalling the title some of the media had given her. She was far from the scrawny sixteen year-old who had panicked at the sight of a Ridley simulation, but she hardly seemed like an all-powerful savior. He wondered, not for the first time, what people would think if they really knew her. This woman who fought against her own ghosts as much as she fought against enemy threats, not the stoic armored demi-god people liked to think protected them. It didn't matter really.

 


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Samus sighed as she went into her bedroom and locked the door behind her. Her heart was still racing, but the sedatives were starting to take effect. Nothing about what had just happened made any sense. There was no reason Ridley should have still been alive. There was no reason he should have come to Earth. There was no reason he should have been after Maggie.

Unless he wasn't after Maggie.

Samus drew the curtains closed on her window and closed her bathroom's door. Her right arm still dangling uselessly at her side, Samus awkwardly removed her old-looking laptop from her suitcase and sat on her bed with it. Her movements were slow because pain shot through her broken arm every time she hit it against something. The pain didn't bother her so much though. It bothered her that the lower part of the arm was almost completely numb.

Opening the laptop and trying to stabilize it on her lap, Samus put in the codes to access the dark net that would lead her to her sock profiles in the black market. The first one she checked was the one from which she had been looking for a place to purchase Falconite bullets, but there had been no hits there. That didn't surprise her. Unbothered, she switched over to her hitman profile, Mr. Grey. That was where the real information would be anyway.

Sure enough, there was one message in Mr. Grey's inbox, a letter from someone named "Inga". Before she had time to ponder the identity of Inga, Samus opened the message and began to read it. Its contents didn't surprise her because in some way, it was precisely what she had expected to find. Still, it made her heart speed up, and she could feel the pressure in her chest again.

_Dear Mr. Grey,_

_We have seen the impeccable reviews of your services and we wish to hire you for a task. My name is Inga, and I am the representative of a local Purist sect on Earth. As you know, we are a group dedicated to the noble mission of ridding the planet Earth of Alien lifeforms and preventing the contamination of the human species by extra-terrestrial genetics._

_We had recently been working on eliminating a threat in the form of a woman carrying a half-breed's subhuman spawn, but our hit on her failed. Our plans were foiled by a half-breed mercenary whose name you will likely know: Samus Aran._

_We don't know what Aran's genetic origins are, but many sources have long speculated she is not human, and her actions during our thwarted attack confirm this. She is the worst kind of alien, one that takes on the form of a human and passes in society unnoticed. Even the humans in the Galactic Federation government trust her._

_She may have stopped our elimination attempt on the other woman, but surveillance footage shows she was shot and severely wounded in the attack._

_We believe that now is the time to finally eliminate this human imposter, Samus Aran, once and for all. We are looking to recruit individuals, human and alien alike, to strike now while Aran is injured and vulnerable. I know that working with aliens goes against our usual beliefs, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and the existence of a false-human like Samus Aran is a threat to us all._

_If you choose to undertake this mission, you will be greatly rewarded. However, extreme caution is recommended as no one knows the full extent of Aran's abilities._

_Your response is greatly anticipated._

_Inga_

Samus slammed the laptop shut and pushed it away from her. She hugged her good arm around her chest as she felt herself beginning to hyperventilate again. Despite the pain in her chest, she refused to let herself have another panic attack. Taking a few deep breaths, she began to sing very quietly, a technique she had picked up in therapy years ago that seemed to help stop the onset of the attacks.

_"Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night and wouldn't you love to love her? Takes to the sky like a bird in flight and who will be her lover?"_

Samus reopened the laptop and began to pen Mr. Grey's response to Inga. Little did the Purists realize how quickly Samus had healed from her gunshot wounds. She decided to have him accept the mission, hoping it would get her closer to discovering the identity of "Inga" and the Purist terror cell.

" _All your life you've never seen a woman taken by the wind… would you stay if she promised you heaven? Will you ever win?"_

Samus's breathing began to even out as she tried to keep up the meter of the song. It was an old one she had heard years ago, but she had always liked it. She didn't know what it was actually about, but she liked the idea of a stealthy, bird like woman who could just fly away at will.

She sent off her acceptance of the mission and closed the laptop again. She tried to put it away again, but it was awkward to secure with only one arm, and she ended up just hiding it under some shirts.

 _So unprofessional,_ she thought with a sigh as she began rifling through her belongings again. She knew Adam wanted her to stay in and rest, but she knew she couldn't do that. Even with the sedatives, she was too on edge and if she were to take a nap, she would only end up wracked with night terrors that would leave her more exhausted then before. Despite Adam's order, she couldn't stand down. It wasn't in her. And she was under no obligation to do what Adam said anyway, even if his invocation of their former dynamic had helped to ground her at the time. She generally liked to respect him, but ultimately, she knew what was best for herself. Playing by the rules had never been her style anyway.

Again, she was acutely aware that was why her liability insurance was always on the brink of dropping her, but oh well.

Out of her bag, she pulled a long, wiry black device that was shaped almost like a human spine. It was a contraption called a spider brace or a spider restraint depending upon its usage. Tapping her watch, she ran diagnostic on her suit and on her body. Even though she was not currently wearing the suit, her watch was able to pull data from its pendant form. As Adam had said, her suit was completely out of missiles, both types, and she was not sure where to find refills here on Earth. She was down to less than half of an energy tank, although she could not remember her low energy alarm going off during the fight. There was structural damage to both her chest plate and the thrusters on the back of her suit, rendering her space jump functionality unusable. The Screw Attack was down to 45% power.

Her suit's right arm had taken extensive damage, and she bit her tongue in frustration when she realized her entire arm cannon was offline temporarily while it tried to repair the connection. Morph ball functionality was also offline due to the breach in the armor. Diagnostics were unsure of how long it would take to repair the suit, but the damage was severe, and Samus was left to marvel at how narrowly she had skirted death at the hands of Ridley, once again.

Most of her body was all right, but there were some cuts and blunt force trauma to her chest and back. Her blood pressure was high, 152/95, and her heart rate was 150. Doctors had been warning her for years about her risk factors for hypertension though, and she doubted the panic attack had helped.

_"All your life, you've never seen a woman taken by the wind…"_

Her right arm was a mess. Ridley's crushing jaws had caused a frightening amount of soft tissue damage, and she had a bad fracture of her humeral shaft. Scans showed injury to her radial nerve as well, which would explain the numbness. Nerve damage scared her. If she couldn't feel her right arm, she couldn't shoot. She hoped desperately that it was the kind of injury that could heal.

Samus took off her denim jacket and picked up the spider brace. She only had a bloody white t-shirt on underneath, but it would have to do. She placed the brace beside her injured arm and watched as its wiry structure sprung to life. The wiry spines began to grow outward like vines until they encased the entirety of her arm from her shoulder to her hand. Once the arm was totally captured and splinted, it automatically bent upward at the elbow until Samus's right arm was pinned to her chest and the vine-like wires began to grow once more, encircling her chest and completely immobilizing her broken arm. Once her arm was stable and set to begin healing, the brace stopped expanding and stayed holding Samus's arm in place.

Spider braces were very versatile devices. While they had uses for situations like these, Samus mainly carried them for their use as restraints. They were useful in bounty hunting when she had to bring in live targets.

 _Good thing I'm used to doing stuff with my left hand,_ Samus thought as she put her suitcase away. She took her long green coat from the closet and slipped her left arm in while draping the other side over her right shoulder. She buttoned it down clumsily to conceal her injured arm, although her handicap would be obvious due to the empty right sleeve. Still, she preferred her weakness not to be on display.

Holstered to her hips, there were two handguns, and she had two more concealed within the coat. If her arm cannon was disabled, she at least needed to keep herself armed the old-fashioned way. And fortunately, they were all guns she could fire with one hand. Although her left hand was not normally her gun hand, she had trained with it extensively for emergency situations like this.

 _Well,_ she thought,  _I guess I'm as ready for battle as I can be given the circumstances._

Adam saw Samus fundamentally differently than she saw herself. In Samus's mind, regardless of the situation, she was expendable. She wouldn't hesitate to give her life, whether for only one other person or for the galaxy. It was her job to protect people. That was the sole purpose of her existence. Adam saw her as some kind of super solider who could only be used in the direst of circumstances. She needed to live so that she could help people on a much larger scale in the future. Indeed, when she was younger, he had prohibited her from going on suicide missions, and there were times when she had had to sit idly by at watch others die when there was still a tiny chance she could have saved them. It was times like those when she had hated Adam. But he had known the risk of losing her had been too great and the odds of her prevailing in those circumstances had been too small to justify the risk.

Samus understood this now, even if she still didn't like it. He had known, somehow, that her existence would someday be vital to the galaxy. He had never imagined the scale of the impact she would have in her role as the Protector of the Galaxy, but like the Chozo before him, he knew.

 _Some protector I am,_ Samus thought, looking at her reflection in the mirror and noting the phazon scars on her face, her visible lack of a right arm, and her overall battered appearance.

She shook her head and walked out into the hall. Moving quickly and deliberately, she heading straight to the front of the house where Adam and Elisa stood at attention, watching the gates and the holoscreen Adam's watch projected that showed the perimeter surveillance.

"Samus!" Adam looked genuinely surprised to see her. Elisa didn't say anything or even seem surprised, but Samus saw the concern in the woman's warm brown eyes.

"I'm joining you two," Samus said flatly as she took her place to Adam's right as Elisa stood on his left.

"Samus," Adam stated, the authoritarian tone back in his voice. "Go back inside. Your arm is too badly injured and you're not strong enough right now."

Samus turned on her former commanding officer, fire in her cold blue eyes. "Adam Malkovich, I am stronger with one arm than you are with two. Are you forgetting what I am?"

Elisa was notably silent as she watched the exchange between the General and the bounty hunter. She had been wondering if Samus had any special abilities without the powersuit.

"Samus," Adam dismissed her comments with a wave of his hand. "I know you're strong. But you've been through a lot already. Please, stand down and let us protect—"

He gasped in surprise as Samus swiftly closed the distance between them. Before he could even register how close she was to him, he felt himself being lifted completely off the ground, Samus's good hand around his throat. His eyes widened in shock as he stared down at her. The way she held on didn't actually hurt him, but she got her point across loud and clear.

As she let him down, their eyes locked, and he could see her panting with the effort it had taken. Her strength was certainly super human, even with one arm, but it still bothered him to have her out there.

"Fine," he conceded, taking a step back and noticing the way Elisa stared at the bounty hunter in awe. "You can stay out here, and I wont give you a hard time, but keep in mind you will need to rest eventually. You're only—" He stopped himself when he remember who he was speaking to. "You're still mostly human, and if you're too exhausted, you won't be able to protect anyone."

Samus kept her cold gaze on him as she nodded. Resting right now was not an option to her. She had one job, and that job was to protect her people here. She couldn't let Adam and Elisa stand outside, waiting for danger that was meant for her. She refused to let them be harmed trying to protect her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Samus is singing is "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac. I only included a very small portion of it so it would be identifiable to the reader.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

It got cold once the sun set. Colder than it had been the entire time Samus and Adam had been on Earth. Adam had put on his heavy blue and white General's coat, adorned with its gold sigils and pins. He looked strange wearing a normal winter's hat in place of his military cap, but it was below freezing, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. He and Elisa both wore thick black gloves. Elisa also wore a long coat, an old fashioned red coat that she had borrowed from Morrigan. It looked comically large on her five-foot-three frame and feel to halfway down her calves. Samus, generally possessing a different tolerance for extreme temperatures, wore only her long green coat, although she did keep her free hand buried deep in a pocket, gun never leaving its grasp.

She was cold though. Colder than she thought she should have been, but she realized it was perfectly normal given the number of hours the three of them had been standing out there. Samus had kept to herself most of the time she was out there, and after the first hour or so, she had gone to sit on the steps of the front porch. Adam had been right; she needed to rest. Still, she could not go inside and let Adam and Elisa protect her. Sitting seemed like a good compromise. Her body wanted her to go to sleep so it could slip into its near-coma state and begin its rapid healing process, and she decided perhaps she would do that once the Marines arrived. The sedatives had calmed her substantially, and she wondered if she would be able to sleep without having nightmares.

She was just starting to consider moving their little defense party inside when her phone began to ring. She tapped her watch to answer it, and upon seeing the caller ID, put on her earpiece and moved further onto the porch, out of earshot of Adam and Elisa.

"Hey Jack," she answered, keeping an eye out for anyone coming by.

"Samus? How have you been?" Jack had a deeper voice than Adam, but he was considerably younger sounding, closer to Samus's age.

"Working a job. The usual."

"Heh…" He was quiet for a moment. "I was just calling… I don't know what time it is where you are. I just wanted to let you know I never received the money for this month, and I wanted to know if you were still sending it."

Samus sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Jack. It just slipped my mind. I'll get it out to you as soon as I can."

"Look, if you're short on funds this month, I understand. You haven't missed a payment in fifteen years, so I won't hold it against you. Besides, the past few years, you've sent us more than enough."

"I've got the money." She always had the money these days.

"We appreciate that, Samus." Jack's tone was gentle, and it made Samus relax. Not that he had ever given her a reason to be tense. "I don't doubt you would send it when you can. I was just getting a little… concerned. The media doesn't seem to know what's happened to you, and they've been running 'What happened to Samus Aran?' stories every other month since you disappeared after that one mission."

"Yeah… just been trying to get my head on straight and stay out of the public eye, I guess. I'm actually on Earth right now doing some private security work."

"Wow." He sounded shocked. "That's… different."

"Yeah… That's what people have told me. Anyway, how's the boy?"

Jack laughed. "You're actually asking about him? You really are acting different."

"You're the one who always brings it up anyway."

"I guess I am… He's good, Samus. He's getting tall, almost as tall as you now. He's not as thin as you were, but he's athletic. Good student. Just a really great kid all around. He's even been seeing a girl lately."

"Abby Malkovich."

"General Malkovich told you?"

"No… Abby did."

Jack didn't say anything for a few moments. "He's been asking questions again. It's getting harder to make things up now that he's older."

"That's why I told you to tell him I was dead the first time he asked. Growing up thinking you have a dead mother versus growing up thinking your mother abandoned you but was out there somewhere and someday there'd be a happy reunion… There's no happy ending unless he knows as little about me as humanly possible."

"Because you think it will make him a target."

"Because I  _know_ it will make him a target. Everyone who comes in contact with me is a target. I'm a target. There's a bounty on my head that's bigger than the GDP of some planets!" Samus grit her teeth, tired of trying to explain this to him. "Right now, there are videos going viral on the Internet of my last fight. You watch those and you'll realize there's not a shred left of that eighteen year old girl you made a mistake with back when we were in the service together. I'm not the kind of person you want around your kid."

Jack sighed. "That's just the thing Samus, he's not a kid anymore. At least, he won't be for long. I really think you should consider meeting him."

"I can't do this right now, Jack." Her tone was terse and cold. "Right now, I'm sitting on some lady's front porch waiting for either a bunch of marines or a bunch of space pirates to show up either to help me to kill me. I just killed about eight men this week and one space dragon. You just… you just don't even know."

"I'm sorry I brought it up. Are you doing all right?"

"My life is a train wreck. Always has been. I don't need to be dragging anyone else down with me." She looked up to see Adam glancing curiously at her, still out at his spot. She waved his attention away. "Look, I really need to be going. I'll send you the money."

She hung up before Jack could respond. This was the last topic she needed to be thinking about right now. For the past fifteen years, that boy had been nothing but a monthly funds transfer, and she had no intention of changing that. She'd never actually even seen him. No, he wasn't even a boy to her. He had been the reason for her army medical discharge, and he was a check in the mail each month. That was all she could allow him to be.

Samus turned back to Adam, shaking her head as if it would clear out her thoughts. She walked over to her two companions who looked at her quizzically.

"What was that?" Elisa asked. "Was it Admiral Dane?"

"No," Samus responded in her flat tone. "Personal call."

Adam laughed. "Personal call? Doesn't everyone you know live here?"

"Past due payment," Samus replied with a look that let him know exactly who had been on the other end of that call. Adam was the only other person in the universe who knew about that whole situation.

Adam just nodded before turning to Elisa. "I think we should head inside. It's getting colder out here and—"

"No." Samus pointed up to the sky. "They're entering the atmosphere."

Sure enough, Adam looked up to the sky to see the three spacecraft that appeared to be heading down toward them. "Those ships are from Dane's fleet."

Elisa grinned. "All right. Space marines!"

Samus smiled at how happy the ships made Elisa look. It had been a long time since she had seen anyone so excited to see any kind of Federation forces or spacecraft in general. She really just took it for granted that everyone saw them on a regular basis. But they were still rare and exciting to Earthlings.

"Samus." Adam turned to the bounty hunter and placed his hand on her uninjured arm. "Why don't you let me take it from here? It's freezing out here. Why don't you and Elisa go inside and get something to eat? I'll handle Admiral Dane and the troops."

This time, Samus nodded. "All right, Adam. Thank you."

Her arm was hurting terribly and the cold was starting to get to her. She was not as on edge as she had been earlier and decided she would probably benefit from trying to rest now that backup had arrived.

"It's no problem, Lady. Go take care of yourself. You and our families are in good hands."

She nodded once more as she turned to go, noting how casually he had just implied that Maggie and Morrigan somehow constituted her family. She didn't question it, but she did decide that the concept was so completely alien to her that she'd never get used to it.

 


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"So it's just this little chip?" Elisa stared at the golden processing chip in disbelief. She and Samus had gone up to Samus's room while Adam greeted Admiral Dane's fleet. "It's not like any kind of technology I've seen before!"

Samus smiled, amused at the Officer's amazement. "It's a Chozo technology. They aren't around anymore, but I still find their stuff in the strangest places on the planets I visit.

"Chozo," Elisa repeated, turning the chip around in her hands and noticing it had the same soft glow as Samus's suit. "Is that what you are?"

"Hmm?" Samus stared at the other woman. "Why would you ask me that?"

"Oh? Is that not a polite thing to ask? I'm sorry. I don't know a lot of Semi-Humans, and I figured you were one. I guess I was just wondering what the other part was… I didn't mean to pry though."

Samus laughed. "Well, yeah, actually I am part Chozo. No one's ever guessed that before though."

Elisa grinned at her mischievously. "I'm just intuitive like that."

"Apparently." Samus just smiled and looked at her companion. Neither one said anything for a few moments, but Samus eventually broke the silence. "Anyway, we should see how this works in your arm. I think the results should be pretty amazing."

Elisa nodded and reluctantly looked away from the bounty hunter and over to her robotic arm. She slipped down the little panel on the inner arm and input her security code. The arm went completely slack as she pulled out the old 9J-10 processing chip. She set it to the side as she picked the glowing gold chip back up, took one last look at it and slipped it in.

It took a moment, but little by little she felt electrical impulses expanding from around the chip until her whole arm felt electrified. It was not an entirely pleasant sensation as the artificial nerves just began firing off a random assortment of signals and myriad sensations shot through her arm.

"It's calibrating," Samus said as she saw Elisa wince as it went through a pain cycle. "This will be over soon."

The calibration went on for another minute or so before the arm felt almost normal. Elisa stared at it, raised her hand up and flexed her fingers.

"This feels weird."

"Give it a moment. It has a much larger range of feeling than you're used to."

Elisa flexed the joints a few more times before Samus reached out and put her hand on the robotic forearm.

"Oh!" Elisa stared at the other woman's hand in shock. "That… it feels like it would if you touched the real arm…"

"I know." Samus touched her upper arm and ran her hand down to Elisa's, where she lightly traced her own fingers over the Officer's. She looked up to see Elisa staring in awe at the contact and continued gently caressing the back of her hand and her palm. "It feels everything."

Elisa suddenly began to cry.

"Oh my god…" Elisa just stared in disbelief. "I really thought I'd never feel this again… How is this possible?"

Still smiling, Samus wrapped her fingers around Elisa's hand. "Just a different kind of tech. I've been to more parts of the universe than most."

"You have a knack for doing the impossible, Samus Aran."

Samus shook her head. "That's not entirely true. If it were truly impossible, I wouldn't be able to do it."

"Then you have a knack for making things possible." Elisa lunged forward and hugged Samus before the huntress had a chance to react. "Thank you."

Samus awkwardly hugged her back with her good arm. When Elisa pulled back, she stared at the other woman's chest where her broken arm was immobilized under her coat.

"How bad is it really?" Elisa asked, looking up to Samus's eyes.

Suddenly self conscious, Samus looked off to the side. "Bad. For me to break a bone… that just doesn't happen." She didn't mention that her power suit was almost completely disabled until it could finish its repairs.

"Well, that monster… Ridley. He seemed like a real big bad."

Samus unconsciously shuddered at the mention of his name. "You have no idea. And if he was hunting me, there's no telling who else will show up…"

"I thought the bad guys were after Maggie?"

Samus looked up, remembering suddenly that she had found out she was their target using illegal means. And Elisa was a cop. "Ridley told me while we were fighting. Apparently, I'm their new target, and they're recruiting anyone they can get, human or alien to come after me. But that's not really anything new." She tried to laugh, but it came out sounding like an awkward cough. "There's a black market bounty on my head the size of the GDP of some planets."

"That's… gotta be a terrible feeling."

"It certainly doesn't help me sleep at night."

"Well, if it's any consolation, I've got your back. And I'm pretty sure Adam and those Marines do too."

"Heh." Samus shook her head. "Each person who stays around me is just one more potential piece of collateral damage."

"I take it you're not much of an optimist."

"No. Life's taught me better than that. I've lost a lot of people… most of them to Ridley." Samus got quiet. She might have still been under the effects of the sedatives, but just thinking about Ridley and everything he had done got her heart racing. She hated feeling that way, knowing that she had defeated Ridley time and time again, but also knowing there was a part of her that was still the terrified child on K-2L. Or the teenage girl on Zebes who had failed to stop Ridley and the Space Pirates from conquering the Chozo's land and making her an orphan twice over.

"Hey." Elisa placed a hand on Samus's shoulder, gently nudging the bounty hunter back into reality. "He's gone now. You did a good job today and probably saved a lot of lives."

Samus just looked over at Elisa and didn't say anything. It seemed too obvious that had Ridley not been after Samus, no one's life would have been in danger in the first place. The whole group of them would be better off if she took off into deep space and tired to lead the black market bounty hunters as far away from this planet as possible.

"At the very least," Elisa tried to engage Samus, who she noticed suddenly looked very pale. "I think it's incredible how you fought him today. I'm not trying to be rude, but you actually seem frightened of Ridley. And you fought him anyway to protect the people around us and to protect the people who live here."

Samus glared at Elisa, her temper dulled by the artificial sedation but still sharp nonetheless. "There's nothing incredible about being afraid of an enemy."

"No, but there is something incredible about being able to defend the people you care about in spite of that fear. And to me, that's what makes you brave. It's easy to stand up to someone you're not afraid of."

Samus shook her head. "I swear, you have a weird way of twisting things around to fit your world view."

"Oh?" Elisa laughed. "I'm not the one who referred to my friends as 'potential pieces of collateral damage' or whatever you said."

"Yeah…" Samus couldn't help but laugh at that. "I guess most people would agree that's a little messed up." Suddenly remembering something, Samus walked across the room to the corner where her leather jacket lay crumpled up from a couple of days before when Adam had cut the bullets out of her. She picked it up and held it out to Elisa. "For the blood samples. Hopefully we can trace the origin of the chemicals in those bullets now."

Elisa grinned. "In all the excitement, I forgot about that. We should take it out to my car. I have evidence bags in there."

Samus nodded, a hint of a smile and a bit of color coming back to her face. Elisa did not need a psychology degree to realize Samus had been fighting with post-traumatic stress since seeing the space dragon earlier that day. Her mannerisms and views on things seemed so different than they had been in the coffee shop before the attack. She was still the same person, no doubt, and she still possessed a certain selfless generosity that amazed Elisa. But this Samus was haunted. Badly.

Elisa decided to do anything she could do to try to bring out the lighter-hearted demeanor she had she seen in Samus earlier that day. It would be her way of thanking the bounty hunter for not only saving her life in the parking lot, but also giving her back the sensations in her arm she thought that she would never feel again. In less than twelve hours, this woman had already changed her whole life, but her mind was so badly affected that she could not realize the positive effects she had on those closest to her.

Thanking her again would be pointless. Gratitude would fall on deaf ears. Elisa resolved then that at the very least, she wanted to stay by this woman's side until the battle was over. It would be dangerous for a human like her, but she wanted to give something back to the bounty hunter.

When they got outside, the two women parted ways as Elisa went to put her jacket in her car and Samus walked over to the front gate where Adam and Admiral Dane were standing.

"Good evening, Samus," Dane called out to her as she approached. The perimeter of the property was lined with Marines who seemed to be installing some kind of energy shielding around it.

"Good evening, Admiral Dane," she replied. In lieu of shaking hands, the two nodded to each other in greeting. "Thank you for coming out here on such short notice."

"It's no problem, Samus, especially not after the way you handled the Phazon Crisis years ago." He was a tall man, taller than Samus and Adam, and he looked to be approaching sixty. His brownish-green coat was heavily decorated with medals and symbols of his rank. His hat matched, and Samus thought he hadn't changed a bit since the last time she saw him after destroying Phaaze.

"Samus," Adam looked at her very seriously, "Dane's fleet is installing an energy shield around the property. The shields will form a dome so we should be protected from overhead attacks as well."

Samus nodded. She knew he had added at last part specifically because of Ridley. Even if the dragon was dead, Adam knew he would be on Samus's mind, and it made her feel a bit better to know that no creature could just fly over the shields.

"We can take it from here, General Malkovich," Samus heard Dane say to Adam as she wandered off toward a pair of marines setting up a shield generator a ways down the fence.

"What sort of shielding are you using?" she casually asked as one of the men turned around to face her.

He was dressed in his full body armor, but the visor on his helmet was up to show a young man in his early twenties. "Top of the line stuff, Miss. Don't you worry about it."

Samus glared at him. "I would like to know exactly what type. It's going to take a lot to keep out space pirates or other creatures like that."

"Space pirates?" His tone was dismissive and he looked annoyed. "Look Lady, why don't you just leave the fighting to actual warriors and go inside?"

Samus was about to say something when the other marine looked up at him. The armored figure had been welding something on the generator but abruptly stood up and punched him in the arm.

"Hey!" The visor on the other soldier's helmet flew up to reveal a young woman about the same age as her partner. "Dumbass, don't you realize that's Samus Aran you're talking to? Show a little respect to the woman who saves your ass on a regular basis!"

The man looked taken aback and confusedly glanced back and forth between Samus and the female marine. "Wait… Samus is a girl?"

"I prefer the term 'woman'," the bounty hunter retorted, "but yes, I am."

"I'm sorry, Ma'am." The young woman turned to Samus. "He obviously hasn't been properly educated in history or manners. We're using Gamma-force shielding so it should stand up to all known forms of space pirate technology."

"Thank you," Samus said with a curt nod. The young man's remarks were nothing she hadn't heard a million times before, but they still irritated her. Without another word, she turned and slunk off back toward Adam.

As Adam saw her returning, he walked away from Dane and met her halfway. She saw his look of concern and realized she really could not take offense to it considering how the last twenty-four hours had gone.

"Do you want to go inside?" he asked her, and she just nodded silently. Together, the two of them walked toward the house, and she felt her tension ease considerably. For the time being, all of the people she cared about were safely within shields that rivaled her ship's own in terms of durability.

They went into the kitchen, and Samus sat at the table while Adam made dinner for the two of them. It wasn't anything fancy, just some pasta with a white sauce, but he added bits of grilled chicken and mushrooms to make it more substantial. Samus, who hated feeling waited on, set out two place settings and poured them both some water. No one said anything as they sat down to eat.

The simple meal was hot and heavenly after being outside in the freezing cold. Samus wolfed her first bowl down before helping herself to seconds, much to Adam's approval. He noted that she seemed very adept at using only her left arm and then remembered her right hand was frequently a cannon.  
"How are you feeling?" he asked her after a while.

Samus slowly looked up from her food, trying to figure out how to answer. "Rattled. Not at my best. But certainly better than I could be. I'll survive."

"Did the sedatives help?"

Samus nodded. "Ridley just…"

"Seeing him messes with you."

"Yeah." She looked embarrassed. "Every time I think I've destroyed him, he comes back. Every time I think I'm over my fear… I see K-2L all over again. And I feel like I'm back there. I don't think that feeling will ever fully go away."

"No. Probably not."

"He was there again when the space pirates took over Zebes. I couldn't handle fighting him, and the Chozo sent me away to Calliope IX. I never saw them again." She looked at Adam, not sure how to express what she needed to say. "When I saw him today… here with you and Marza and the girls… and Morrigan and Maggie too… I just…" She shook her head. "I don't know if I could recover from that a third time."

"Well, for what it's worth. That didn't happen."

"I know."

Adam knew her greatest fears. No one ever thought twice about why Samus did what she did. Most assumed it was only for the money, and with the amount the Federation had been paying her lately, he could understand why.

"So," he asked, trying to lead away from the topic of Ridley, "Jack called earlier? Everything all right?"

"Oh," Samus laughed. "I forgot to send out the child support this month. I'll just wire them extra tomorrow."

"Heh… He must have thought you died or something. Fifteen years and this is the first time."

"It was on auto-pay, and I forgot my card on that account expired." Samus shrugged. "I guess I need to update my Netflix billing info too." Then she thought of something and grinned. "General Adam Malkovich, did you know your daughter is dating my son?"

"What?" Adam's fork clattered onto his plate as he stared at Samus in shock. "But… he's a boy."

"Yes," Samus nodded. "Girls tend to date those."

"She's only a child!"

"Abridgette is sixteen. Think about what we were like at sixteen."

"Samus," he frowned, "you were in jail at sixteen. You had a kid at eighteen. Thinking about you as a teenager is not reassuring."

"Hmm. Good point."

"Jack told you they're dating?"

"Well, Abby did, actually. Jack just confirmed it. Neither one of them has any idea he's technically my son."

"Abby told you she was seeing a boy but she didn't tell me?"

Samus rolled her eyes. "Probably because you were already picturing her in jail or pregnant as soon as I said the word 'dating'."

"Those are legitimate concerns."

"What's the matter, Adam? You don't wanna be in-laws?" He gave Samus a death glare, and the bounty hunter smirked and playfully put her hands up in mock-surrender. "Okay, fine. It's the end of the world. It's a crisis on the scale of the Phaaze incident."

"Enough, Samus." He rested an elbow on the table and palmed his face. He shook his head. "You really were a screwed up teenager."

"Hey!" She glared back at him, but she wasn't serious. "I think I turned out ok given the circumstances. Besides, I was an orphan who was raised by bird people and bio-engineered to become a walking weapon. Abby is smart girl with a loving stable family to guide her. Just talk to your kid once in a while without flipping out on her. It's not rocket science."

"Sometimes, Lady, you're strangely wise."

Samus shrugged. "Most people would probably tell you I'm the world's worst mother for the choices I made. But I did what I had to, and the boy is still alive and well hidden from the rest of the galaxy."

"I understand not being able—"

"No you don't. You might stay away from home for long periods of time to work out whatever issues you've got going on up in your head, but your kids at least know what you look like. You don't have to lie to people and pretend they don't exist. You know what their voices sound like." Samus wasn't angry, but she wanted to prove a point. "I will never get to meet my boy."

"Your boy?" Samus felt a stabbing pain in her chest as she looked up to see Morrigan in the doorway. "You have a son?" the old woman asked, eyeing Samus apprehensively.

 


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"Your boy?" Samus felt a stabbing pain in her chest as she looked up to see Morrigan in the doorway. "You have a son?" the old woman asked, eyeing Samus apprehensively.

Samus's face went pale as she stared at Morrigan, a look of shock slowly twisting into one of rage. With enough force to throw her chair back across the room, Samus jumped up and slammed her hand on the table.

"YOU WILL NEVER SAY THAT OUT LOUD AGAIN!"

Adam was sharply taken aback by the change in Samus's demeanor, and Morrigan took a step backward, suddenly fearful of the blonde woman.

"Samus…" Morrigan said very slowly as she took a step forward toward the blonde woman. "If it upsets you, I won't say anything. I just… I guess I just wanted to know. I didn't realize it would offend you, and I'm sorry."

Samus was looking down at the table, but Adam could see her shaking with rage. He knew she had been on the verge of something like this all day but had hoped she would get through it without incident.

"Lady," Adam said very gently, standing up but not approaching Samus. "There's no reason to be upset. Morrigan isn't trying to hurt anyone. She just doesn't know about these things."

Samus shook her head without looking up. "I'm sorry." Her voice was practically a whisper. "I didn't mean to yell." She looked behind her to where her chair had flown and smashed into a cabinet. One of the legs had cracked and it seemed awkwardly bent. "I can pay for the chair."

"No need," Morrigan replied, looking confused and more than a little worried.

"Lady," Adam said as he slowly walked over to her and put a hand on her good shoulder. "It's late, and you've had a long day. Why don't you get some sleep? We have more than enough protection for the night."

Samus nodded without looking at him and slowly stood up straighter. "Explain it to her for me, okay? She has a right to know." Her voice was a dull, distracted monotone, and as she walked away, she seemed not to notice the people around her.

"Samus," Morrigan called out once she had walked out into the hallway.

"Yeah?" The bounty hunter turned to regard her grandmother, her gunmetal blue eyes frighteningly empty.

"Samus," Morrigan began again, although considerably less sure and more timid than she had that morning, "I love you."

The hunter stared blankly at her for a moment. "Noted." Then she turned and walked toward her room.

Morrigan just watched her until Samus disappeared completely from sight. Afterward, she turned back to Adam who was assessing the damage to the chair.

"I'm sorry," the General said softly as Morrigan sat down at the table. "Samus has had a difficult day, and she's not…" He paused, unsure how to finish his sentence. "Samus is just having a hard time." He stood up and walked over to the table, where he sat across from Morrigan in one of the three remaining chairs.

Morrigan stared at the medals on Adam's coat, something on her mind she was not sure how to express. After a moment, she finally looked up at him. "She scares me."

Adam just nodded, understanding her sentiment although he did not want to admit it.

"That woman," Morrigan said slowly, "is Virginia's daughter, but she doesn't seem like my daughter at all. Virginia was gentle… if not a little headstrong."

"Samus is too." Adam's voice was very quiet. "When she's well."

"I saw the videos online." The old woman took out her smart phone to show him, but Adam shook his head. "Her demeanor is… disturbing."

"That's because you don't realize what you're watching. That dragon she fought today, he's the reason she's been… problematic."

"What does a dragon have to do with Samus? It's just a dumb beast."

"No." Adam shook his head and looked at Morrigan very seriously. "That dragon is Ridley, the leader of the Space Pirates. He's something of a source of terror for Samus. He haunts her nightmares and her waking hours. He's the reason Samus is what she is."

"She's afraid of him? But Samus is so strong… why is she scared?"

Adam realized what he had to explain to Morrigan, but he hated it. He felt like it should have come from a person with more empathy than himself, someone who would be able to comfort Morrigan when she learned the truth. "Samus wasn't so strong the first times she faced him." Adam paused and tried to summon his wherewithal to continue. "Morrigan, Ridley is the one who killed your daughter, Samus's mother. And Samus was a child when she watched him do it. Samus has already killed that creature four or five times already, but somehow he keeps regenerating. And every time Samus faces him or even thinks about him, it takes her back to the day she watched him and the space pirates slaughter everyone on K-2L."

Morrigan looked very pale, but she maintained her composure as she listened to Adam. "That poor girl… she's known nothing but violence."

"Yes… She's not a naturally violent person. She's actually an extraordinarily compassionate woman, but her world has been violence since she was a toddler. She was raised by an alien race called the Chozo who genetically enhanced her and made her into a form of bioweapon and trained her as a warrior. She lived on the streets of Neoyork from the time she was fourteen until she landed herself in jail at sixteen. Then she was in the army until she was about eighteen when she was discharged due to the accidental pregnancy. After that, she became a bounty hunter and eventually started taking jobs as a mercenary."

"And the boy?" Morrigan asked. "Samus's son, what is he like? Is he human?"

Adam nodded. "He's one hundred percent human. Samus had been certain she couldn't have children, so he was a surprise. She's never seen him though. As soon as he was born, his father took him away, as per Samus's wishes. She fled from the hospital that same afternoon. He lives with his father, and she sends them money every month. Aside from the two of them, I'm the only one who knows he even exists. As violent as her life has been, she was terrified to ever be around him. She's convinced if anyone ever finds out, they will make him a target and use him as collateral to get to her."

"That's why she freaked out at me?" Morrigan asked. "Knee-jerk protective instincts?"

Adam nodded. "She doesn't want anyone to know. It's her most closely guarded secret, and this is coming from a woman with more secrets than anyone I've ever met."

Morrigan nodded. "For someone whose stories constantly end up in the news, she keeps a surprising amount about her life hidden."

"She has good reason to, but I think she wants you to know about the boy. He's your great-grandson after all." Adam chuckled. "His name is Hector Aran Fields, and he's fifteen years old." Adam left out the part where he was apparently dating his daughter. "Samus hates the fact that the boy's father used her last name as his middle name, but Aran is a common name, and she wasn't in the public eye back then. She was just an ex-soldier trying to make ends meet taking down small time criminals and bail jumpers."

"She must have been good at that." Morrigan smiled.

"Scary good. She moved on to bigger, badder prey quickly. Her mercenary work made her career though."

"Adam… is there anything I can do to get through to her? I want to connect with her so badly, but she keeps shutting me out." Morrigan looked sad and held her head up on her head as she leaned toward the table. "I never imagined she'd be this hard to get to know. I just had this idea of who she was… I knew Virginia."

"She's not Virginia." Adam's tone was flat and final. "She's Samus. She and Virginia may have things in common, but I don't know because I never knew Virginia. Samus though… just be gentle and give her space. She's like a wild animal, and she's suspicious of anyone trying to get close to her. Try to understand how she expresses herself. She does have feelings other than anger, even if she doesn't seem like it. She may never say 'I love you' or anything like that, but know that she would protect you with her life."

Morrigan sat in silence, listening to Adam, a thoughtful look on her face.

When she didn't say anything, he continued. "She does care about you and Maggie both. I know she… comes with a lot of issues, to put it mildly. But just try to be mindful of how she is and what kind of world she's known. She's cold and aloof and seems to lack any emotional depth to most people, but she's also brave and the most selfless person I've ever known."

Morrigan listened wordlessly until Adam stopped speaking. "I'll try to keep all that in mind. I guess I just wanted so bad to meet her because I thought I'd get back a little piece of Virginia… but you're right. She's not Virginia, and that's not fair of me. But if she took out the monster that killed my daughter… and if she's continued that battle all these years… I suppose she has given me that some degree of the closure I needed." Morrigan stood up slowly. "Maggie has already gone off to bed, and I suppose I should too. Your wife and your daughters are still camped out in the basement. I think with the soldiers outside, it should be safe to go up to the bedrooms. I'm pretty sure that's where Samus went off to as well."

Adam nodded and stood up as well. He decided it was time to get back to his own family.

* * *

Meanwhile, up in her bedroom, Samus was looking back through the dark nets on her illegal laptop. She knew she needed to rest, but she also needed to retrieve a very important piece of information. In her hitman email, she found one very simple message.

_Meet me tomorrow at 16:00 at the abandoned diner on Hemlock Road in Bangor. We will discuss the details of your assignment._

_-Inga_

Samus stared determinedly at the screen as she penned back her reply and sent it off. Tomorrow night, she would sneak out of the Marine barrier to meet one of the Purist leaders. It occurred to her with some irony that she had just enlisted herself as a hitman in her own assassination.

Folding up the laptop, she put it back in its secure chamber in her suitcase and took off her coat. She stripped down into nothing but her gray panties and her bloody white t-shirt, her broken arm still immobilized against her chest. The arm had swollen badly and turned a dark shade of purple from all of the broken blood vessels and soft tissue damage. It looked like hell, but she knew this was typical for such an injury.

Curious, she partially released the brace so the arm was still straight and bound together but no longer attached to her chest. She tried to bend it at the elbow and lift her hand but maximum effort barely moved it a hair, and the amount of pain that shot through it was unbearable. Samus bit her lip to avoid crying out. She still couldn't feel much below the elbow, but some sensation was returning to the tips of her fingers, and she took that as a good sign that her nerves were only injured and not dead as she had feared.

Immobilizing the arm and attaching it to her chest once more, Samus realized this injury was going to require more than what she had at her disposal in her tiny medical kit. She knew she needed a hospital if she ever hoped to regain fully use of the arm, but her meeting with this mysterious "Inga" was tomorrow night, and she knew she would likely end up sleeping until well around that time. Her body would not let her wake up as it would try to heal itself, although she feared this was a bit beyond its natural capabilities. She had two options: either she could skip the meeting with Inga to go to the hospital and risk losing her only lead or she could show up severely underpowered and lacking the use of one of her arms.

She tried to reason with herself for a moment, but it was no use. She knew she was going to end up showing up for that meeting tomorrow. One arm or not, her suit would have repaired some functions by then, and she needed this lead. If she didn't have her usual firepower though, she'd just have to find creative ways to take extra precautions.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Samus awoke around noon to the alarm she had set on her watch. It wasn't a harsh sound, as typical alarms tended to wake her into a violent state. It was an old song she had remembered from her early childhood. Growing up, she sang it often while playing by herself on Zebes when she wasn't training. Years later, she heard it again as an adult and realized she had been butchering the lyrics all those years, so she downloaded it as soon as she could. She found it made a very soothing morning alarm and its familiarity helped her come to her senses easier as she often woke unaware of where or when she was. At other times, she would wake to panic attacks from nightmares she often could not remember or, on the worst mornings, sleep paralysis that would leave her fully conscious but temporarily unable to move, breathe, or even open her eyes.

This morning though, she was lucky and only woke up disoriented and confused at whose bed and whose house she was in. It took her a minute to remember, the quiet music easing the anxiety as she pieced together the events of the night before and remembered she was in the spare bedroom at Morrigan's house.

Samus rubbed her eyes and stumbled out of bed, trudging reluctantly to the bathroom. To say she was not a morning person was putting it lightly. She actively despised waking up, especially after her deep, healing sleeps that more closely resembled a normal human's coma than a normal human's sleep. She had only been out about twelve hours, but as she looked in the mirror, she was pleased to find her arm was considerably less swollen, and though it was still heavily bruised, it was no longer the dark purple color that had appeared almost black.

Once again, she released the brace from her chest and let her arm fall down to her side. The movement still hurt, and while it was still extremely painful, she found she could bend her elbow and wrist slightly. She wiggled her fingers, and they could feel sensations, but it still took a lot of effort to move them at all. Perhaps the decrease in swelling was helping her nerve injury heal. At any rate, she still needed to go to a doctor at some point. This was not the kind of thing that would heal overnight, not even for her. Sometimes she wished that the whole being-a-genetically-enhanced-superhuman-thing had more perks. She was still better off than a regular person in a lot of ways, but she was far from invulnerable and the healing coma was not exactly a convenient method. But she supposed the addition of the power suit made up for a lot of that when she was wearing it. The genetic modifications had mostly been designed with the power suit in mind, and she sometimes wondered if the Chozo had intended her to basically live in the suit twenty-four-seven.

Carefully, she removed the brace from her arm entirely and set it on the counter. She was still in her underwear and her bloody shirt from the day before. Her body was caked with sweat and dried blood. Slowly, she removed her shirt and bra, gingerly trying to avoid hurting her broken arm. There was no way to avoid the pain completely, but soon she had her clothes off and began drawing herself a bath.

As the tub filled, she mused on the events of the night before. Normally, encountering Ridley would give her nightmares without fail. Those would be the nights she awoke screaming and covered in sweat, often halfway across her apartment either hiding beneath her desk or standing in the middle of her living room holding some kind of weapon. Once, many years ago when she had lived in a house, she awoke to find she had shot through a wall. Fortunately, no one had been hurt, but the fact that it happened made her feel awful.

Most nights nowadays, she didn't go to her apartment to sleep anymore. Most nights, she slept in her ship with her suit on, ready in the event of an attack. It was so strange sleeping in a bed again, but she was enjoying how much more comfortable it was.

Samus turned off the water and slowly lowered herself into the tub. The hot water felt amazing on her skin, and for a long while she just laid in it and soaked. She had not even realized how gross she had felt before, but this was bliss to her. It was rare that she allowed herself to really relax, and she could feel much of her tension slipping into the water. She took a moment to appreciate that for once, she was well rested, reasonably well nourished, and relaxed. Self-care had never been her strong suit, but she had really been trying the past couple of days, and Adam had been trying to help her with that since they began their trip to Earth.

She washed her body with some kind of luxury body wash Morrigan had provided for her room. It smelled vaguely of flowers and citrus fruits, and Samus loved the way it lathered up. She wondered if she should get a bottle for herself when this mission was over. She really always just bought whatever was cheap and on sale, but maybe indulging herself a little bit would be all right. After all, eating and sleeping the past few days had likely been part of what saved her from having a nightmare last night.

And perhaps, having people on her side for once, actively working with her and treating her like a person, was helping too. Between Morrigan's hospitality, Adam's attendance to her needs, and Elisa's helpfulness and bright nature, it was more human kindness than she had ever experienced at one time. Though it terrified her to have everyone she cared about under one roof, the presence of Admiral Dane's fleet eased her tension. He was a competent leader, and she trusted him.

As she soaked, Samus looked over her body, running her fingers along the many scars that marred her torso and limbs. There was even one scar that ran up her neck, and it was the one that left her with a fondness for turtleneck tops. Then there were the faint scars from her phazon infection that ran all the way up her face and down her body. The wounds Adam had cut the bullets from and stitched up had healed, but their scars were thick and heavy. Samus sighed. Though she would never say it, the world was better off that Adam had decided against becoming a plastic surgeon like his father had been.

She had been pretty once, she thought to herself. She supposed with her muscular physic and long, elegant limbs, she still was in a way. When she wore clothes and makeup, people couldn't tell how scarred up she was, and she supposed she looked pretty then. But she was hard looking, and her face showed that. There was no way to hide that in her eyes. She may have still been conventionally attractive in a lot of ways, but her shiny had worn off long ago. Before her first mission to Zebes, people would be shocked when they saw her to find out she was a bounty hunter. Now no one questioned it.

Samus let out her ponytail and washed her hair as best as she could with one hand. It was a sweaty, matted, blonde mess, and sometimes she wondered why she didn't just shave it off. Stepping out of the tub, she wrapped herself in a towel and stepped on a scale, curious to see where her weight was.

185lb

Samus's eyes widened as she stared at the number. She was down from the 198 she had been during her most recent mission to Zebes. Marza had been right; she had lost quite a bit of weight. While most people would probably be happy about that, it concerned Samus whose body composition had never contained much fat to begin with. It shouldn't have surprised her though. Before coming to Earth with Adam, she had been on a stretch of forgetting to eat for weeks at a time.

She brushed her teeth and dried her hair, working out all of the knots before putting it up in her characteristic high ponytail. Slowly, she dressed herself for her meeting, mindful of her injury. In the spirit of being able to get it on and off, she chose a plain black button-down shirt and a pair of plain black jeans. She slipped on her combat boots, taking an embarrassing amount of time to try to figure out how to tie them with one hand. She holstered one gun on each hip and one on each thigh. Over that, she wore a long black trench coat she had stolen out of Adam's closet on her way to bed the night before. It was the perfect size to high a couple more guns, which is what she did.

Before she forgot, she sat down on her bed and wired twenty thousand credits over to Jack and Hector. Normally she only gave them five thousand a month, but she felt bad about being late, and she thought the boy's birthday had been around this time of year… one of these months. Time was not her strong suit. She thought she was doing pretty good though, considering when she had first started sending the child support, she had to struggle to come up with the measly two hundred credits a month she had agreed to pay. As her income had gone up, so had her monthly payments, despite the fact that, officially, she still only needed to pay two hundred a month.

Fully dressed and with her bills finally taken care of, Samus knew there was only one thing left to do. She turned her attention to her lifeless right arm and materialized the lowest layer of her power suit around just it. It hid well under her stolen coat, gold armor stretching from the tips of her fingers to a thin layer stretching around her chest. Just thick enough to be bullet proof but still flushed against her skin and unobtrusive.

She raised her arm to look at it, opening and closing her hand a few times. Even with the power armor, the arm was still very weak, but at least it could move and she could hold a gun with it. Suit diagnostics let her know that the breach in the armor had been repaired and the armor cannon was back online, albeit only with her normal beam for now. The other beams would take a while to reload after the shut down and reboot. Morphball functionality was also back online, but without power bombs. Her armor was still too damaged to withstand a power bomb blast, but if need be, she could override this safety feature and use one anyway.

She was still completely out of missiles and wondered again why she had bothered to shoot all of them into an already pureed Ridley.

Well, now that she looked like some kind of cyborg flasher, she decided it was time to be on her way. She had about three hours to get to where she was supposed to meet Inga, but she wanted to get there early and case the joint first. Surprise attacks would not do in her condition, and she wanted to make sure she knew where people could hide before there could be any surprises.

She strapped on her black backpack containing her medical kit and some of the surveillance drones. They did not need them here anymore, after all. Quickly, she wolfed down a protein bar as she walked over to the window. She could not let Adam or anyone else know she was leaving, and trying to get past the Marines with their barriers was not a good plan. Adam definitely would not approve of her taking on a dangerous solo mission while injured.

Fortunately, sneaking around heavily guarded areas was her specialty.

Opening the window, Samus climbed out onto the roof, careful to keep herself out of sight of any of the guards until she found a part to jump off. The bounty hunter made the two-story leap with grace and sprinted down the hill into one of the little valleys of Blackacre. The surrounding hills kept her out of sight of the guards, and fortunately, they were mostly focused on trying to keep people out, not in. She walked for a little bit until she found what she was looking for: an old storm drain that led off the property.

It was barely big enough for her morph ball to fit through, but just one regular bomb would be enough to blow off the rusty grate at the front of it. Samus materialized her suit, rolled up into her morph ball form, and did just that before rolling into the mucky old tunnel. She was glad morph ball functionality had come back online so soon. She would have hated to crawl through this mess of stagnant mud water and animal corpses.

When she got to the outside, she found herself somewhere in the woods surrounding Blackacre. She un-morphed and dematerialized most of her suit as quickly as she could. She was a good ways away from the fences, and she wondered if any of the guards could see her. If anyone was reading thermal heat-seeking scans of this area, they had just picked up a weird one.

As quietly as she could, Samus made her way through the woods until she came to a road. Bangor was a good ways away from Rosewood, but it would not take more than an hour to get there. Tapping her watch a couple of times, she summoned an auto-cab.

She was curious about this Inga and how any meeting between the two of them would go. She knew any Purist who showed up at the meeting would recognize her instantly, but that was all right. She was going in fully armed and expecting a firefight. It may have seemed strange to some people, but standing in those woods in complete isolation, knowing she had six guns and eight knives on her, as well as the power suit, put her in her calmest state. Heavily armed and extremely dangerous, this felt like the most natural role she had been in since coming to Earth. No more was she just the passive bodyguard, only stepping in when things got bad. She was now the hunter once more, and the Purists were her prey.

 


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

It was about two in the afternoon when Adam heard a knock on the front door. He thought it strange considering they had already established the fact that Admiral Dane and his soldiers didn't need to knock if they wanted to go in and out to eat or use the bathroom, although they had opted to do most of those things on the fleet's ships. Curious who it could be, Adam opened the door to find Officer Rodriguez standing there with a long white box in her hands.

"Hello General Malkovich," she said with a grin. "Mind if I join you in the house? I've got some new information that should interest you and Samus."

Adam nodded and led her into the kitchen where he prepared a cup of coffee for each of them. His family was in the living room with Morrigan and Maggie for now, so they would have the kitchen to themselves.

"How do you take yours?" he asked.

"Blonde and sweet," she replied, noticing the broken chair from the night before and sitting in one of the three remaining chairs.

Adam poured his own coffee and then fixed Elisa's, thinking how different she was from Samus who generally only ever took her coffee black. Once each of them had their respective beverages, Adam sat at the table across from the officer.

"So, what brings you here today, Officer Rodriguez?"

Elisa took a sip of her coffee and looked up at Adam. "Well, I had the lab run the chemicals from the bullets you cut out of Samus. Apparently, both the blood thinner and the paralytic agent are ultra-concentrated versions of the components used in a lot of pharmaceutical drugs. The chemicals themselves originate from a planet in the gamma quadrant, but they are highly effective on humans, and they were widely used on Earth up until about ten years ago when their main manufacturer declared bankruptcy."

"Cobalt Pharmaceuticals." Adam remembered seeing it on the news ten years ago. It had been a major catastrophe when that company had collapsed, leaving thousands of Earth humans unemployed and helping launch the planet into an economic recession. "Their main manufacturing plant was in Bangor."

"Correct." Elisa grinned. "We believe they may be using the old drug factory in Bangor to process the chemicals and create them in levels concentrated enough to weaponize them. Last year, right before these murders started happening, there was a string of burglaries in which someone was stealing the components you would need to build a machine to cast bullets. I'm emailing you the files as we speak." She tapped her watch a couple of times, and Adam's beeped to let him know the files had reached his inbox. "I've got a theory that the abandoned drug manufacturing plant in Bangor is being used both to produce the chemicals and the cast the bullets that will act as their vectors."

Adam nodded, suddenly feeling excited. "That makes sense. That city has been a ghost town since the climate changed and forced most of its residents to move south." From what her knew of the remains of Bangor, it probably had an even smaller population than Rosewood, although abandoned cities like that had become havens for the criminal element.

"I can't wait to tell Samus! Where is she?"

"Probably still asleep." Adam glanced over at the time and saw it was after 2p.m. "She acts tough, but she took a beating yesterday from Ridley. When her body tries to heal itself, I've known her to sleep for days at a time. Not that I think she was hurt badly enough this time to sleep for more than a day." She had fallen into a coma for a month one time after being infected with lethal amounts of Phazon. He recalled a few times when she was younger and working full time hunting bounties, she had come to his apartment afterward to sleep off her injuries. It wasn't that she didn't have a home, but she felt safer having him around while she was vulnerable. He just let her use his place for as long as she needed and didn't ask questions.

Elisa nodded. "I'm concerned about her arm though. She really needs to see a doctor."

Adam shrugged. "I know she does. It's not going to heal right the way she has it, but good luck trying to convince her of that."

"Maybe you could convince her."

"Heh. Why me?"

"She respects you," Elisa said, very seriously. "She respects you in a way she doesn't respect anyone else."

Adam laughed, although it wasn't a happy laugh. "Trying to get Samus to do anything is like pulling teeth."

"I'm not saying to bark it at her like an order, but she respects your opinion. I saw you calm her down from that episode yesterday, and I see the way the two of you interact. She's a loose cannon and a feral cat, but she sees you as comfortable and familiar."

Adam laughed humorously again. "My Problem Dog. That's what they used to call her when she was in my command."

"She served under you?"

Adam nodded. "Yes, when she was in the Army. Damn good fighter. Terrible soldier. Rude, insubordinate, acting on her own… but always in ways that made sense to her weird little moral code no one could figure out. I think I understand it now, but back then, she was the Problem Dog. People called her that even to her face. And sometimes she would beat them up, and that continued the cycle."

"Did you ever call her Problem Dog?"

"No…" Adam looked thoughtful. "I always called her Lady. I think I started calling her that to try to combat what others would call her… Problem Dog being one of the nicer names." There were a handful of Officers who had simply started referring to her as "Death" because that was what became of anyone, friend or foe, who encountered her on a mission.

"Well," Elisa said as she picked up her long white box and placed it on the table between them, "when she does wake up, I got her a little present. A sort of thank you for yesterday. I hope she'll like it."

"I'm sure she'll like whatever you got her. Although it will probably confuse her." Adam grinned. "She's awkward about receiving gifts. It's like she has no concept of why anyone would do anything like that for her."

Just then, they heard someone in the hallway approaching the kitchen. Adam and Elisa both turned toward the doorway to see a very pale Maggie stagger into it.

Adam leapt to his feet at once and went over to the heavily pregnant woman. "Maggie? What's wrong?" He gestured to his chair and led her over to it. "Here, sit down."

Maggie shook her head, visibly wincing as pain shot through her. "No… I gotta get to a doctor or somethin'. Somethin's not… right." She gasped, her breathing becoming heavier and more difficult.

It was Elisa's turn to jump up and walk over to Maggie. "Hello, Miss. My name is Officer Rodriguez, and I'm with the Rosewood Police Department. How long have you been experiencing this pain?"

Maggie looked at the woman curiously. "Where's Samus?"

"She's resting," Adam replied, hovering anxiously around Maggie, whose pain seemed to have subsided for a moment.

"Miss, how long have you been in pain for? And how far apart are the pains?" Elisa continued trying to get information from Maggie, but the woman would only look at Adam.

"I need Samus," she stated very firmly. "I need to get to a hospital. The baby's coming, and I need Samus to be there to protect us."

Adam looked from Elisa to Maggie and back. "Officer Rodriguez," he asked, "can you escort Miss Sinclaire to the hospital in your vehicle?"

Elise nodded. "Yes, of course. I'll use the sirens and everything."

"Good. On your way out, inform Admiral Dane he is to send four of his troops to accompany you. Tell him General Malkovich said so."

"Yes, Sir," Elisa said and turned to Maggie. "Are you ready to go?"

Maggie ignored her and glared at Adam. "I NEED Samus. I trust Samus."

Adam sighed and shook his head. "I'll try to wake her up, but that could take a while. She's resting and trying to recover from the beating she took yesterday."

"If you'd like, Miss Sinclaire," Elisa interjected, finally getting Maggie's attention, "I can take you to the hospital and Samus can meet us there as soon as she is up. In the meantime, Admiral Dane's troops are more than enough to look out for you, and I promise to do the same." Elisa laughed pleasantly and put Adam and Maggie a little more at ease. "I may not be the galaxy's toughest bounty hunter, but I'm a pretty good shot, and I'll do my best to keep you and your baby safe."

Maggie stared at Elisa for a long moment before finally putting her hands up in defeat. "Fine. Take me. But make sure you get a bunch of those Marines, and make sure Samus gets over there as soon as possible."

"Of course." Elisa grinned at Adam and turned back to Maggie. "Shall we go?"

Maggie nodded and followed reluctantly. Adam watched the two women go and left the kitchen once he heard the front door close behind them. Keeping an eye out for Morrigan, who would likely want to be informed of the blessed event, he ran up the stairs and over to Samus's room.

Waking her up was going to be a trick, and he knew that if he did it wrong, she could wake up in a violent state, particularly given the fact that she had faced Ridley yesterday. He knew all too well how Samus could react if anyone got close to her in her sleep, especially if she was having a bad night. A permanent bump on his nose marked where a fellow soldier had broken it when he had tried to wake him up back in their Army days. He had been a teenager then and had not quite understood how some people suffering from post-traumatic stress could react when approached in their sleep. Fortunately, the man who had punched him in the nose had been human. Samus was not. And she often woke up not knowing where she was and unable to recognize anyone around her. He knew if he approached her wrong he could end up with a lot worse than a busted nose.

When he approached her door, her knocked on it very gently. "Lady?" he called softly, listening to see if she stirred. When he didn't hear anything, he knocked on her door again, a bit louder this time. "Lady?" Still nothing.

He tried the gentle approach a few more times, getting a bit louder each time until it troubled him not to hear her stir.

"Samus? Samus Aran?" he called loudly, wondering why she wasn't responding at all. Growing concerned, he tried the door handle and found it was not locked. Cautiously, he turned the knob and stepped into her bedroom, worried about what state he might find her in.

When he entered the room, he knew immediately why she had not responded. The bed was made, perfectly neat, and her clothes from the night before sat haphazardly at the top of the hamper. In the far corner of the room sat an open window, and there was no doubt in his mind that was how she had made her exit. Where she was going, he had no idea, but he knew it must have been somewhere dangerous or else she would have told him. She was injured, and had he known she was planning to go off on her own, he would have told her not to. He knew she disliked disobeying him but would do it anyway if she felt it was the right thing. He also knew she would rather just do dangerous things without anyone knowing so she would not have to disregard anyone's wishes.

Adam sighed as he walked over to the window and closed it. Wherever she was, he knew she would survive, but he worried about what kind of state she would return in. And in what kind of condition she would leave wherever she had gone. Places tended to blow up when Samus Aran got done with them. Along with those thoughts, though, he hoped she would return in time to be there for Maggie.

* * *

Meanwhile, Samus arrived in Bangor around the same time Maggie and Elisa left for the hospital. She got out the cab about three blocks away from the diner Inga had said to meet her at. With a couple of hours left before the meeting was supposed to take place, Samus decided to set up her drones so they could scope out the place for her.

Years of living on the street had taught her how to make herself invisible in an urban environment, and she found a dank alley between two buildings with a large dumpster overflowing with trash. She made her way down the alley, quickly but silently and set herself up behind the dumpster. The restaurant in one of the building beside the alley was not opened, but it must have still been functional because the decaying food in the dumpster was not more than a week old. It smelled of rotting meat and fermenting beer that had been left out in the sun too long, so no one would likely come close enough to it to find her. Samus was used to the smells of death and decay, though, and they had stopped affecting her long ago.

She set her backpack down on the ground and crouched beside it. One by one, she removed each of the stealthy security drones, programmed them to fly in different routes around the city, and let them go into the air. They had the ability to project the images from the surrounding area onto themselves as they flew, and they blended in so well with their environments, they were almost invisible to the naked eye. When the last of the drones had flown, Samus sat back for a moment and watched their recordings from the holo-screen her watch generated. She sat for a long time familiarizing herself with the layout of the city and the various buildings and alleys around them.

Eventually, she scoped out the abandoned diner where she was scheduled to meet with Inga. It was old and so dilapidated it must have been empty for a long time. A lot of other buildings in the area were the same, and many of them looked like they had been burned out in fires. Even some of the buildings that still looked occupied had boarded up windows and graffiti tagged all over them. Samus had to wonder why any of the non-criminal denizens of Bangor still lived in the area, but then she realized it wasn't too different than a lot of places she had lived over the years. At least rent would be cheap.

Once the time for the meeting drew closer, Samus had the drones converge around the diner so she could see it from every angle. She decided it was safest to let Inga arrive first so she could get a good look at them through the cameras. She figured it would also be safer for her to approach them as opposed to them approaching her and possibly leading an ambush of hired assassins.

It was almost four o'clock exactly when Samus saw someone she recognized walking over to the diner, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up immediately. The Purist who arrived at the diner and waited there to meet her was the same short, red haired woman she had encountered outside of the supermarket the day she and Maggie had been attacked. She was even wearing the same thick sunglasses and black pea coat she had been wearing that day.

Standing up straight, Samus kicked her backpack under the dumpster to hide it. She straighten out the black trench coat she had stolen from Adam and felt around to check the status of the six guns she carried on her person. The bounty hunter was well aware that the lone woman might just be a decoy to lure her out and that there were likely others hiding inside of locked buildings or in dark alleys the drones could not see.

Either way, she was ready to finally confront her enemy face to face. If more of them came out of the shadows in an attempt to fight her, all they were doing was conveniently gathering in one place so she could take out more of them at once.

 


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Samus's watch projected her HUD readout as she approached where the woman waited in front of the diner. Aside from a few vermin, this part of the city was completely desolate, and she knew he did not have to fear snipers hiding out in the windows of the buildings. It would appear Inga had come alone. Before the woman ever came into view, Samus had the weapons of her stealth drones all pointed directly at her. If she tried to draw a weapon, they would shoot her dead before she ever got to pull the trigger.

The red-haired woman looked over as the tall bounty hunter came into view. Samus could practically taste the way her adrenaline spiked when she realized the figure approaching was a woman and not a man like she had sought to hire.

When they were about twenty feet apart from one another, Samus stopped walking and stared the other woman down. Her face was hard and stoic, gunmetal blue eyes void of any trace of her humanity. "Inga, I presume?" Even Samus's voice was deeper than it usually was. No longer around anyone who could get caught in the crossfire, Samus had entered her fully predatory mode.

The red-haired woman looked back at her, easily recognizing the bounty hunter who had been the target of her assassination attempt. "Mr. Grey, I presume?" The woman had a grainy sort of voice with a certain sharpness to it.

No emotion passed through Samus's face, not even as she drew her gun and pointed it directly at Inga's heart. "So, now that we've been acquainted, why are you trying to hire someone to kill me?"

Inga kept her composure, although Samus could hear the other woman's heart racing. She was not a very large woman, standing about a foot shorter than Samus. She looked to be in her early forties, and her skin was as pale as her hair was red. She didn't give any outward indication of fear, but Samus knew she felt it.

Finally, after a tense silence, the woman spoke. "I never personally thought we should kill you. I always thought we should try to outbid that old bitch up in Rosewood and hire you for ourselves. I was actually surprised to see you working to protect that pregnant girl. I figured if anyone had a reason to want to stop the creation of Semi-Humans, it would be you."

Samus continued to stare the woman down. "Elaborate."

"Well," Inga continued, eyes staring straight down the barrel of Samus's gun, "I mean look at you. I'm as good as a dead woman now anyway, so I might as well say it. You were a person at some point, weren't you? And then someone decided to fuse your body with god-knows-what and turn you into a weapon. You're like the bastard child of nature and machines, and you can't tell me you're happy with that."

Samus didn't say anything, but arched one eyebrow as she looked down the length of her weapon and focused her vision like a laser over the woman's heart.

"You don't have anything to say about that?" Inga asked, hesitantly looking around her.

"Who said I was ever human? Besides," she added coldly, "you're fully human and you're a fucking murderer. How do you get to claim to be better than any Semi-Human?"

"It's not murder," Inga snapped. "It's mercy. The Semi-Human woman who fused herself with alien DNA was slowly and painfully dying of Avian Bone Syndrome. That monstrosity your client is pregnant with, who knows what it will come out as? And what other sorts of miserable chimeras will come from interspecies breeding? Humans copulating with animals has been a crime for centuries. Why is it all right now that those animals are from other planets and can speak? I don't know if you take lovers, but I would imagine yours would be human."

"Hmm," Samus mused. "Some were. Others weren't. What two sentient beings want to do with one another is no business of mine."

"But what about what they did to you?" Inga glared at her intensely. "Samus Aran was a human child on K-2L." She sensed Samus's momentary discomfort at the mention of the mining colony. "Oh yes, I knew that. I did my homework on you. Somewhere along the way, someone got the idea to take a human child and turn it into a bioweapon. It had no ability to consent and now there is no place for an abomination like that in the universe. Do you even realize how sick that is? Human have free will and the ability to determine our own paths in life. You will never be anything but someone's lapdog, be it the Federation or whoever else employs your services."

"Federation's lapdog… there's one I've never heard before." Samus's face remained hard, but there were faint anger lines appearing around her eyes. She noticed that the condensed powersuit, on its heavy chain around her neck, had begun to glow and pulsate, practically begging her to activate it.

"You can't even remove that collar, can you? Your life, Samus Aran, has never been your own. You're someone's sick experiment and a weapon that gets passed from one hand to the next, simultaneously trying to hunt down the ghosts of the creatures that did this to you."

Samus's watch began to beep as four massive beings suddenly appeared on her HUD readout, each one converging rapidly on their current location. It did not take her long to activate the powersuit, her gun still gripped in her armored left hand and pointed directly at Inga.

The other woman stared in wonder as the woman before her was encased in the light of the metallic object on her neck. Through the glow, it looked as though the heavy metal necklace was expanding outward and encasing her body in a golden armor. Once it finished, Samus's entire body glowed with a purple light, and it faded to reveal the seven-foot tall form of the Hunter in the Gravity Suit.

"My goodness," Inga said with genuine awe in her voice. "How does that little trinket unfold into that much armor?"

"It's bigger on the inside," Samus said dryly in a deep synthesized voice. She looked around the area as the HUD flashed wildly, alerting her to the incoming presence of four very powerful beings.

Realizing the only way they could be traveling that quickly was by flying, Samus looked up to the sky just in time to see the first of the beasts arriving. With spider-like reflexes, Samus leapt up in the air and did a backward somersault to avoid the massive creature's dive-bomb, and as she turned around to face it, she felt her heart begin to race.

Staring back at her, perched on its hind legs, was Ridley. The sepulchral gray demon stared back at her through its sickly golden eyes, and Samus thought for a moment she was going to vomit into her helmet.

_But how?_  She wondered, refusing to voice her fear out loud.  _I literally turned him into mush last time I fought him, and the time before that, I blew up the entire planet he was on!_

Her HUD beeped again at the incoming of the second creature, and once more, Samus dodged its attack with a jump flip, turning to look at the monstrous beast. But what she saw her confused her even more.

Ridley. Another Ridley.

"Two Ridleys?" she asked aloud, whirling around to look at Inga. Before the red-haired woman could realize what was going on, Samus had thrown her against a wall, arm cannon pressing down on her throat and a handgun pointed directly at her temple. "How the fuck did you get two Ridleys?"

"Samus," she hissed, barely able to breathe as the Hunter's cannon crushed her windpipe. "You've been chasing ghosts so long, you can't tell what's real and what isn't anymore. You really think Ridley came back from the dead just to follow you to Earth?"

"What are you talking about?" The irate bounty hunter jabbed the gun harder into the woman's skull as she watched the other two creatures approaching on her HUD.

The woman laughed but it turned into a cough. "You can't tell one Space Dragon from another, can you? They make excellent mercenaries though… and I think they must have had some kind of grudge against you. It's too bad you're going to kill me though. I would have liked to see you take on four at once. It was priceless watching you panic the other day at the coffee shop trying to fight just one of these."

Samus just stared at the woman, her visor opaque so Inga could not see her eyes looking back.

"Well, Samus," she gasped as she looked at the bounty hunter's helmet. "Don't pretend you're all noble all of a sudden and above shooting me at point blank range. We both know—"

But Inga never got to finish she sentence as Samus pulled the trigger and the woman's head exploded into little blood chunks all over the sidewalk.

Dropping the lifeless, headless form of the Purist woman, Samus turned and set her sights on the four Space Dragons before her. They perched like vultures on the surrounding buildings, eight golden eyes staring hungrily at the corpse at Samus's feet and back up to the huntress herself.

 


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Through her visor, Samus stared down the eight golden eyes that were all fixated on her and the corpse at her feet. For a while, no one moved as both the bounty hunter and the four Space Dragons sized up their adversaries. The Hunter was considerably smaller, outnumbered four-to-one, and severely lacking the firepower she had required to take out only one of them the day before. But at the same time, she felt a sudden inner peace she had not felt in a long time.

None of them were Ridley.

Not even the Space Dragon she had fought the other day at the coffee shop had been Ridley. Ridley was actually dead. At last. And while she had watched Zebes blow up when she escaped from the planet, until this moment, there had been a part of her that was still waiting for him to come back from the dead and come for her, a fear she thought had come to fruition yesterday.

But Ridley was dead, and he wasn't coming back.

As one of the dragons snapped hungrily at the air, Samus knew she could not take four of these creatures head on. In actuality, she was not sure she could take one on given the damage she had sustained in her last battle. The only small miracle was that all of her elemental beams had managed to come back online at some point between arriving in Bangor and killing Inga.

Well, she would just have to find an alternative fight plan.

Samus broke the staring contest as she raised her arm cannon and began charging a plasma shot. It didn't take a second before the golden eyes lit up, and four massive bodies lunged forward from their perches, locked onto the bounty hunter as though they were missiles themselves. As the dragons rushed her, Samus fired off her plasma shot into one of the center dragons, the creature's screech ringing out as it struck it right between the eyes. Samus jumped backward with a somersault through the second floor window of the building behind her right as something opened heavy fire on the dragons from behind.

Her sounds cloaked by the cacophony of dragon screeches, Samus dashed through the building and jumped out of its back window into another building across the way, trying to put as much distance between herself and the dragons as possible before they realized that the things shooting at them were only her security drones. She didn't know how long it would take for them to catch on, but she ran as quickly and stealthily as she could between buildings until she came to one marked as a nuclear fallout shelter and decided to take cover in its basement.

Luckily for her, Samus did not need to bust open the lock on the front door of the abandoned building because someone had already done that at some point. Probably some junkie trying to look for a place to shoot up. She didn't care though. Her HUD showed no living life forms in the building, and that worked for her. The last thing she needed was innocent people getting hurt because she was being chased by Space Dragons.

Well acquainted with how fallout shelters worked from having survived her share of Raid Drills over the years (and the occasional actual Space Pirate Raid), Samus made her way down to the shelter and closed the heavy leaden doors behind her. The concrete room was dark and mostly empty save for some boxes in the corner she assumed had contained non-perishable rations at one time. Their contents had long since been stolen, likely by whomever had broken the lock on the front door. Samus wasted no time in activating her night vision visor and trying to think of a plan of attack.

Four Space Dragons. No missiles. Damaged suit. Broken Arm.

That really was not a lot for her to work with. But, she reasoned with herself, she had worked with less, and she had blown up whole planets before. Four dragons were beatable. They would be a lot easier to beat if only she could blow up this damn planet too.

"But you promised Adam you wouldn't blow up the planet this time," she said aloud to herself, a smile forming on her lips. She would be lying if she said she didn't love the rush of a battle with impossible odds. For every bit civilian life messed with her head, she always had a laser-like focus for a good hunt. She just needed a strategy for this one; either by picking off the dragons one by one or finding a way to take them out all at once.

Her broken right arm hurt badly from the recoil of the charged plasma shot, but she had been expecting that. She wasn't sure how long it would hold up in battle though. The armor was still badly damaged in that section. Checking on the surveillance cameras showed that the dragons had already taken out most of her security drones, but they were still focused on trying to take out a couple of the quicker, more agile ones. They wouldn't hold off the dragons for long.

Her readout also showed about twenty missed calls and voicemails from Adam, much to her dismay. She had planned on him thinking she was in a healing sleep all day. What would have possessed the man to try to disturb that, she had no idea.

Not bothering to listen to any of the voicemails, she decided to give him a quick call back, and to her surprise, he answered on the first ring.

"Samus?" he asked, sounding very irritated. "Where the hell have you been? I've been calling you for hours!"

"Save the lecture for later, Adam," she replied dismissively. "I'm in Bangor. I just killed a Purist leader, the woman who set the gunmen on us at the grocery store the other day. Before I blew her head off though, she apparently called four of her mercenaries here, and get this: they're Space Dragons!"

"Space Dragons?" Adam seemed taken aback and then proceeded to ask very cautiously, "Lady, isn't that what Ridley was?"

"Yeah… it's also what I fought yesterday. That thing I killed… it wasn't Ridley. It was a Space Dragon mercenary, and I've got four more of them on me right now. I'm laying low for a minute in a fall out shelter though, trying to find a way to take them out. I don't have any missiles, and because there are no missile stations on this shitty planet, I don't have anywhere I can refill my supply."

"But you're in Bangor?"

"Yes, that's where I found the Purist woman."

"Then, do you already know about the factory?"

"What factory?"

"All right," Adam said with a sudden hint of intrigue in his voice, "I'm sending you the coordinates to the factory Elisa discovered. Apparently, it's a defunct pharmaceutical manufacturer that used to specialize in using both of the chemicals we found in your blood after you were shot. Both the paralytic and the blood thinning agents. We have reason to believe that this building is where they are manufacturing the Falconite talon-point bullets they've been using to kill Semi-Humans."

Samus thought for a minute and grinned. "So if this building is defunct and operating in secret, I'm guessing there's no electricity going to it?"

"None whatsoever according to the Electric Company's files."

"So they are using an alternative fuel source."

"Precisely. Either a nuclear power core, fuel gel, or Afloraltite."

"Each of which is highly explosive," Samus finished his thought. "Adam, I need you to find a way to evacuate the city somehow. I can keep the Space Dragons distracted, but you need to get any innocent people out."

"And how do you propose I do that, Samus?"  
"I don't know, Adam. You're a decorated military genius General. Figure something out. I'm going to get down to the factory and rig up a way to take out the dragons."

Adam sighed. "That's not going to be easy to do, Lady. There will be armed guards all over that factory. You're not going to be able to just walk in and get to its power source. And then what? Distract the dragons until I find a way to get people out of the city so you can lead them to the power source and blow them up?"

"That's the plan, yeah."

He sighed again, and she pictured him rubbing his temples and shaking his head. "It's going to be dangerous, and that's reckless even for you. But you're going to do it regardless of what I say, right?"

"Precisely." She thought for a second and then added, "Anything else going on over there I should know about?"

Adam paused for a moment. "No, all quiet on this end. We've got plenty of protection from Dane's Fleet. You just focus on taking out those Dragons. But more importantly, Samus, focus on staying alive." He laughed half-heartedly. "Any objections, Lady?"

Samus grinned. "Can't make any promises about that staying alive part, but I'll take those bastards out with me if I go."

"Heh… good to know. Give me two hours to try to evacuate the city though. Anyone left behind after that, I don't think we can chance not acting if there are four Space Dragons loose. And confident as I am in your abilities, I doubt you'll be able to hold them off for more than two hours."

"Thank you," Samus said softly as she disconnected the call and pulled up the coordinates of the defunct factory on her HUD.

This was not going to be the best way to try to fight the Space Dragons. It was dangerous and sloppy, but in all her years as a bounty hunter or in the Army, she could not recall a time when she had been up against four enemies this powerful simultaneously. Besides, she reasoned, this plan would also allow her to take out the bullet factory at the same time, crippling their operations.

"You'll make it through this," she said aloud to herself. "You always do."

But she knew that was not for certain. She knew there was a chance she was not coming back from this one, as there was with every dangerous mission she took. It was strange to think that this time though, there was an entire house full of people who awaited her return and cared if she lived or died. As a General, Adam always knew the chances were usually high that Samus would not come home, but his family, Morrigan, and Maggie did not have such concepts internalized. She wondered briefly what Elisa thought and if she was also awaiting Samus's return. Or she knew Samus was even gone. She wondered if this was how soldiers who had families felt or if that was a concept completely beyond her comprehension.

She pushed the thought from her mind, however, when she saw the video feed from the last drone flicker out. Without another word, the bounty hunter pulled up the factory coordinates Adam had sent her and made her way out of the fall out shelter and back onto the street.

It was time to put the first part of her plan into motion, and she could only hope Adam would be successful in finding a way to evacuate people. The next two hours were going to be very long.

 


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

When Adam heard the call disconnect, he felt a small tinge of guilt for having lied to Samus. Things definitely were not all quiet up at Blackacre. Maggie was in labor, and several more Marines had escorted Morrigan to the hospital for the birth of her first great grandchild.

_Second great grandchild,_ Adam mentally corrected himself, once again forgetting that Samus was technically related to her and Samus technically had an offspring.  _That family has almost as many estranged relatives as the Skywalkers._

With Maggie, Morrigan, and Elisa at the hospital, he had opted to stay behind with Marza and the girls. After all, the Sinclaires were Samus's relatives, not his, and he had no business being there for the birth of their child.

Samus did though, but he very much doubted Samus would make it to witness the event. Elisa had called on behalf of Maggie a couple of times asking if Samus was awake and coming to join them. He had told Elisa Samus was missing, but they both agreed to tell Maggie that her bodyguard was still sleeping, making her sound like the worst bodyguard ever. He then wondered if Maggie was aware that she and Samus were actually first cousins, but that was irrelevant.

_Four Space Dragons,_ he thought as he walked back down the hall to the living room.  _That's not going to be an easy fight, not even for her._

As he stepped into the living room, Marza stood up from where she had been sitting on the ornate red couch, and both of his daughters looked his way.

"Adam," Marza asked, approaching him with a look of concern. "What's going on? Have you found Sam yet?"

Adam nodded, suddenly self-conscious about being the subject of the apprehensive stares of his family. "She just called me. She's in Bangor and needs me to evacuate the city because it's being attacked by Dragons."

"What the hell, Dad?" Abridgette jumped up suddenly, an exasperated look on her face. " _Dragons_  are attacking the city? Like the one in the videos yesterday? How can you be so nonchalant about that?"

Evianna nodded, looking concerned but less emotionally expressive than her older sister. "Aunt Sam is going to be eaten by dragons. Isn't there anything you can do to help her?"

"Abby!" Marza exclaimed. "Watch your language! And Evie, dear, no one is getting eaten by dragons. Sam is a very competent woman and she can handle herself."

"Actually, Marza," Adam said, not realizing he was thinking aloud until the words were coming out of his mouth, "Evie's right. Samus is going to need back-up for this one. She can't fight the dragons and protect the people from collateral damage at the same time. She's a planet-destroying destruction machine, and the only way she's going to beat them is by being a destruction machine."

Evianna grinned. "I'm going to tell her you called her that."

Adam laughed. "She won't like that, but she can't deny it." Then his face became very serious as he turned to his oldest daughter. "Abby, go outside and tell Admiral Dane to get in contact with the Federation's media correspondents and get clearance to issue a mandatory evacuation order for the city of Bangor. Effective immediately."

"Yes, Dad," the tall, thin girl said as she stood up at full attention before heading off to speak with Admiral Dane.

"Marza," he said, turning to his wife, "I need to get in contact with GFHQ and have them authorize the use of the local reserves to go in and help with the evacuation. It's going to be extremely dangerous because the dragons will likely go after the ground troops. Samus thinks she can hold them off on her own, and maybe she can for a while, but we don't need her expending that kind of energy when we need her to be the one to actually take the dragons out. Would you and Evianna be all right taking charge of organizing a medic station outside the city? I'll request medical personnel when I speak to HQ."

"Of course." Marza nodded and turned to Evianna. "You'll help me out, okay?"

Evie nodded. "Definitely. We're going to get to be heroes too this time!"

Adam's face remained stoic. He was glad to see his wife and daughter's enthusiasm, but the thought of having them so close to the battle zone frightened him. He was used to seeing the injured and dying in a war. Marza was a nurse, so she had seen a good deal of suffering, but Evianna was only a thirteen-year-old girl. She would learn a lot today about the horrors of the world.

"Thank you," he said quietly with a nod as her turned to take his leave. Once he got into the kitchen and prepared to make his calls to the Reserves, he had an idea. He quickly sent his GPS data off to Samus so she could track where he was at any given moment. He figured that way she would know how close he was to the city. To his surprise, she sent him hers immediately afterward with a live stream of her vitals and other health data, and for the first time, a sick feeling nested itself in the pit of his stomach. Samus didn't share coordinates or health data. She was too private for that.

He scanned the diagnostics she had sent him, realizing for the first time how bleak her situation looked. No missiles. Heavy suit damage. Severely broken arm.

"Shit," he muttered to himself as he re-read her stats. "Don't you dare go dying on me, Lady."

Forcing himself to look away, he closed his read on Samus and dialed up the Galactic Federation Army Headquarters.

* * *

As Samus emerged from the fallout shelter, the first thing she noted was that she could not hear the dragons, but she was pretty certain she spotted their locations on her HUD. They were far enough away that it would take them a minute to find her, but she did not want to think of what kind of damage they could do to the city in the meantime. She needed to find a way to distract them without getting herself killed in the process.

Suddenly, Adam's GPS coordinates flashed across her visor, and she realized he had sent her a way to track his location. She smiled under her helmet. Somehow, just knowing she could see where he was made her feel better, and she decided to do something she had never done before. She sent him both a live feed of her location and her physical status. It was kind of a grim thought, but she knew he would need to know if she died so he could proceed with an alternate plan of action. Knowing Adam, he would have a plan in place in the event of her death so that the mission would not be a complete flop. She knew it would bother him to see the condition she was currently in, but she reasoned, he never knew the times on missions she had been in much worse shape. At least this time, she had a few energy tanks in reserve.

Samus took a deep breath and steeled herself the best she could against what she knew was about to come. These dragons were not Ridley, but they were dangerous nonetheless. She knew she would have to engage them before they tore apart the city looking for her. Realistically, she didn't think there was any way this day was going to pass without any civilian casualties, but she had to give it her all to minimize that number.

Taking off at a jog, Samus headed straight toward where she saw the Space Dragons on her HUD. It took her a few minutes to find them, but when she did, she made sure to stay well out of sight and observe them for a moment. Strategically, she stood below a building that did not appear to have anyone inside of it in case they should all come crashing through it to get to her. Charging a plasma shot, Samus waited patiently for one of the dragons to come into her sights. It was not long before one dragon swooped into range, appearing to scan the ground for signs of the bounty hunter. From the burn on its forehead, she recognized it as the one she had shot earlier and decided that this one would be her target. As soon as the massive beast was in range and looking another way, she fired off the plasma shot, striking it straight in the chest before it had a chance to react.

The dragon let out a sickening screech of pain that took her mind back to Ridley for an instant, but she shook it off quickly as the other three dragons turned on a dime and flew hurdling in her general direction. Firing off another charged shot, Samus scorched the wing of the lead dragon, throwing off its flight pattern and sending it head first into the side of the building. With a sickening crack, Samus saw the dragon fall back and shifted into her morph ball form. As soon as the remaining two dragons were in range, she laid a power bomb and boosted away as quickly as she could. Her own armor was still too damaged to handle a hit from a power bomb. Fortunately, she had good timing and could hear the dragons scream as they took the full force of the bomb. At the far edges of its blast radius, she remained unscathed by it and unmorphed quickly, charging up another plasma shot in the process.

Her HUD alerted her to a dragon coming up from behind her, and as she whirled around, she shot the plasma blast directly into its face. As it recovered from the attack, she performed a wall jump off the side of the nearby building and used the momentum to land a spinning kick on its jaw. Landing with catlike grace, Samus returned to her ball form and laid a second power bomb as she saw another dragon coming to aid its injured teammate. Once more, she boosted out of the way as quickly as she could.

Too quickly.

As she rounded a corner, a third dragon swooped down and grabbed her morphball in its talons. She tried laying bombs in its grasp, but before they had a chance to go off, the creature took Samus and roughly scraped her across the side of a brick building before throwing her into the wall of another one. Samus struck the wall hard as she unmorphed and tumbled to the ground. She landed on her broken arm and winced at the pain, but she was back on her feet again within seconds as two dragons lunged at her from either side.

As they approached, Samus picked one and leapt at it, tucking herself into a somersault and striking it head-on with her screw attack before landing and turning to do the same to the second dragon. But that dragon anticipated her attack, and before she generate the screw attack, it swiped her side with its claws, tossing her to the side as it rounded in on her.

Samus landed on her feet, but did not have time to dodge before the dragon rammed her at full speed. She flew backward into a building, only for it to ram her again before she had a chance to recover from the impact. Seizing the opportunity, the dragon grabbed the dazed bounty hunter in its mouth and took to the sky while painfully chomping on her abdomen. As it soared higher and bit more forcefully into her, Samus knew she had to get out of its grip before it could pierce her suit as yesterday's dragon had done. Try as she could though, she could not get any lock onto it with her arm cannon, and her energy tanks were depleting at an alarming rate.

She did, however, manage to get a look at the creature's face only to realize it was the same one she had hit with plasma twice. Its burns showed that it had already taken a decent amount of damage. With no escape, Samus decided the only way to go was deeper into the dangerzone as she morphed into a ball once more and found herself within the creature's closed mouth.

Well, Space Dragons might have had a high constitution, but their weak point, as she had learned yesterday, was their scrawny little necks. Especially considering these did not seem to have the cybernetic enhancements Ridley usually did. It was a risky move, but she had to go for it as she forced the dragon to swallow her whole and planted another power bomb in its throat on the way down. She tried to get as far away from the blast as she could given that she was inside of a dragon, but it was at that moment that it decided to try to force her out with fire. As the flames traveled up from the pit of the creature's stomach and through its throat, it struck both Samus and the power bomb simultaneously, detonating it on the spot.

The blast hit Samus before she knew what was going on, exploding the creature's thin neck and decapitating it in the process. As Samus took the full impact of the fire blast and the power bomb, she unmorphed to find herself hurdling back to the ground at a dangerous speed. She barely had the wherewithal to move but somehow managed to somersault into a space jump and activate her screw attack just long enough to land on the tops of one of the nearby tall buildings. But it was not her usual graceful landing as her body skid across the rooftop, barely making it at all.

Samus was down, trying to hold herself up on her good arm, but the world was spinning and she couldn't hear anything. She must have taken some kind of impact to her head as the bomb went off. Struggling to make heads or tails of what was happening around her, Samus looked up to see the other three dragons tearing apart and fighting over the corpse of the one she had just decapitated. They looked strangely like birds fighting over a piece of bread, and every time they tore a piece off, they would ingest it.

It was a disgusting sight, and Samus thought she might be sick, but she suppressed that urge. She was too disoriented to fight, and she had to get out of the way before they spotted her and came for her. Rolling back into a ball, she planted a normal bomb on the top of an air vent and slipped down into the building's ventilation unit. She fell down the shaft for a moment before rolling over to something that looked like an abandoned office space. The room would not provide much protection, but it did not have any external walls, and Samus hoped she would be safe for a minute as she tried to regain her bearings.

As soon as she got out of the vent, she unmorphed and crawled over to a nearby waste paper basket. Removing her helmet, she puked into the small container, a distinctly metallic taste in her mouth leaving her to wonder if she had a concussion. Drained from suddenly losing her lunch, the bounty hunter put her helmet back on and lay for a moment as she waited for the dizziness to pass.

One dragon down, three to go. But it had taken too much out of her to take out that first dragon. Glancing at her remaining energy, she saw the powerbomb combined with the fireblasts had done a number on her reserves, and she considered resting a moment for them to regenerate. Sometimes she wished she could just will energy or missiles into existence, but life did not work like that.

"Samus?"

She lay for a moment with her eyes open as Adam's voice came over her communication unit, but her sounded foggy and far away.

"Samus? Can you hear me? What just happened?"

She tasted blood in her mouth but swallowed it. So she could respond.

"Adam?" her voice sounded unsteady, much to her dismay. "You there?"

"I'm here Samus." His voice sounded closer and clearer this time, but betrayed his concern. "What's happening?"

"I took out one of the dragons, but I took a bad hit. I've hidden myself for now while I try to get myself together."

He sighed. "Don't go getting yourself killed, Lady, and whatever you just did, don't do it again."

"Heh… I wasn't planning on doing that in the first place." She tried sitting up slowly and leaned herself against the side of a desk. The world was not spinning as much now, and she thought vomiting had helped more than she realized. "How are things on your end?"

"Dane was able to get the Federation to issue the evacuation. Broadcasts are going as we speak alerting people to seek shelter until military forces arrive. There are several units of military Reserves heading your way as well as several local police departments. Some one Dane's troops are on their way as well since we don't need them all up at Blackacre. Elisa picked me up, and we are heading your way right now in her squad car. There are also medical personnel on the way to set up stations to care for anyone injured in the attacks. You don't have to fight this battle alone, Lady."

"Adam…" she was at a loss for words. There were people coming in not only to evacuate the city but also to help her fight the dragons. She supposed she should be thankful, but she was mostly worried for the fates of those who had elected to fight by her side. Historically, things had never gone well for her allies.

"Don't worry about us, Samus," he said as though reading her mind. "Earth is our home planet and we are not about to let a bunch of Space Dragons have their way destroying it. It's our duty to defend it just as much as yours." When Samus did not say anything, he continued, "Just keep holding them off until the troops get there. Keep them away from civilians and try to lead them over to the bullet factory so we can get them in the blast radius. If you need to end the battle before we get there— and I leave this to your discretion, Samus— do what you have to. I know it increases the chance of civilian casualties to have that kind of explosion, but you know its better to take out a few than lose everyone in the city."

"Yes," she said, steadily getting to her feet. "I know." But there was nothing she hated more than killing innocents. "But only in the worst case scenario, Adam." Her voice was steady and stern, and most of the dizziness had subsided.

"Good to hear."

"Thank you. Samus out." She disconnected the call as she turned back to the air vent. She could only imagine how the dragons were tearing up the area looking for her, and if she wanted to save anyone, it was time to start round two of this fight.

 


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

_Keep the dragons together. Stay alive._

Those were the mission objectives right now.

As three fireballs crashed down along the base of a crumbling warehouse, the shape of the armored bounty hunter disappeared into the smoke, only for a charged blast of ice to shoot forth a moment later. The dragon who had breathed the fire dodged the hunter's attack, only for the icy blast to clip the wing of one of the dragons behind it, sending the second creature careening into the side of another building as its wing was temporarily immobilized. In a flash of light, the bounty hunter flew out of the smoke, somersaulting into the lead dragon with her electrified screw attack before landing with a gymnast's grace and disappearing into the shadows of a nearby alley once more.

Dodge. Attack. Disappear. Attack. Dodge. Attack.

Samus had been keeping up this game of cat and mouse with the three remaining Space Dragons for nearly an hour as she led them closer to the abandoned pharmaceutical factory where she suspected the bullets had been made. It was not a perfect system, and the three dragons' movements were hard to predict, but they seemed to fly together for the most part, and that was what mattered. She just needed to keep them heading toward the factory and away from the more populated parts of the city.

The first wave of Army Reserves had arrived about twenty minutes ago, and they were helping people evacuate from some areas of the city, but Samus was not sure exactly where. She had gotten brief messages from Adam, but she was not in a very good position to hold an extended conversation.

As she rounded a corner and ran toward an intersection, she narrowly avoided being stabbed by one of the dragon's tails. She sensed the move at the last moment and roll-dodged to the side while sending a charged plasma shot into the dragon's face. The creature screamed as the blast made impact, but another dragon rammed Samus from behind before she had a chance to get away.

Thrown several yards but not missing a beat, the hunter sprung straight to her feet and shot her assailant with another blast of plasma before disappearing down another alley. Fortunately for her, the gaps between most of the buildings in this area were too narrow for the dragons but just right for her to traverse. With preternatural speed, Samus wall-jumped between the two buildings until she was on top of the taller of the two, another charged shot locked and loaded as one of the dragons came into view below. Samus leapt into the air as the plasma rained down on the dragon's back, and she followed it downward with a screw attack to the same impact site.

The dragon barely had time to screech between the two attacks, and once Samus's screw attack hit, it sent both hunter and dragon hurdling toward the ground. The huntress was about to attempt a finishing move when the other two dragons swooped in, though, and she was forced away from her prey before the other two beasts were able to hit her.

They had been locked in this sort of stalemate for a while now: none of the dragons able to hit Samus hard enough to kill her, and Samus unable to pick off any injured dragons before the others rushed her. It was a frustrating battle on both ends, to say the least, with all combatants steadily taking damage as the fight wore on. Though the three dragons together were stronger than the lone hunter, the hunter was a much more experienced fighter and knew how to use her surroundings advantageously. Fortunately for her, none of these dragons were as strong as Ridley, and just knowing that gave her a boost to her confidence. One wrong move though, and she knew she would be done for. She might have been an experienced fighter, but she was outnumbered and out-powered in this battle.

Samus had just fired off another plasma shot and ducked into an alley when her communication unit began to ring.

"Yeah?" she answered it, slightly out of breath.

"Samus?" Adam's voice responded from the other side. "How are you holding up?"

"Eh," Samus shrugged, watching the dragons circling the buildings on her HUD. "It could be worse. I could be dead."

"Lovely," Adam muttered, his exasperation coming through in his tone. "I need you get over to the factory as quickly as possible now. We've got the evacuation well under way, and Elisa and I have just arrived in the city. Dane's troops got here ahead of us and have been clearing the area. You can stop playing with the dragons now and move into the next phase of the plan."

"Got it," Samus grunted as she leapt to the side to avoid a flame attack from above, returning her own plasma blast in the process. "Just get everyone out."

"Affirmative," Adam replied but was quiet for a couple of minutes as he heard the sounds of a dragon screeching and Samus shooting something. "Lady, one more thing."

"What?" Her tone was sharp as she narrowly avoided more flames.

"Come back alive."

"Heh," Samus took a moment to breathe as she watched the three dragons regrouping. "No promises, but I'll try."

She disconnected the call as all three of the Space Dragons attempted to dive-bomb her simultaneously from three different angles. The bounty hunter morphed into a ball right before they were able to make impact and rolled away as quickly as she could, leaving only a power bomb in her place.

The bomb detonated beautifully as the three creatures all converged on it, one even being foolish enough to try to blast it with fire as they descended. Samus watched the action from above as she traversed a fire escape up to the top of what she could only assume had been an apartment building. As the smoke from the blast cleared, she watched as two of the dragons pulled away, leaving one still at the site of the explosion. Samus saw the injured dragon and recognized it as the one that she had nearly taken out only minutes before. Not wishing to miss the opportunity a second time, Samus threw herself off the roof of the building and into a screw attack straight onto the injured dragon's back. It squealed in pain as the bounty hunter knocked it off its feet and straddled the underside of its neck, bracing its writhing head with one hand and firing a charged plasma shot down its mouth with the other.

As soon as Samus had the shot fired off, she could feel it explode within the beast, and she leapt off its body gracefully as it finally succumbed to the attack.

Two dragons down. Two to go.

Her victory was short-lived as the other two dragons flew back toward her, and she was forced to screw attack into one of the oncoming dragons. The creature veered to the side to dodge the attack, but Samus continued going. Soon she was basically flying through a series of screw attack- space jumps down the street as the dragons pursued her.

Now that she was heading straight to the factory, she reasoned, there was no reason for her to engage the dragons directly. She could "fly" indefinitely with continuous space jumps, and as long as she generated a screw attack around her, the dragons would not be able to harm her without hurting themselves. It seemed like the best option considering how low her energy reserves were. Unfortunately, she could not fly as fast as the dragons, and the pair of them flew back and forth around her as she traveled, quickly learning that nothing good could come of them trying to attack the electrical barrier of the screw attack.

Samus always marveled at the fact that continuously somersault jumping never made her dizzy, but then again, neither did turning into a ball and rolling places. Her Chozo genetics had given her an excellent sense of balance and resistance to vertigo.

It did not take long for her to arrive where Adam had sent the coordinates for the factory, and as she prepared to land, she made sure to abruptly ram herself into one of the dragons, sending it fluttering away with a screech as she exited the screw attack and landed on her feet. Her HUD showed several more life forms within the building, but fortunately there did not seem to be any others in the vicinity. Hooray for small victories. However, what attracted her attention most was the alert that flashed up on her screen that her suit sensed an area of unstable, concentrated energy within the factory building. That was her target.

Samus turned to the dragons once more and fired off two more charged plasma shots, one at each of the remaining dragons, before she wall-jumped up to the top of the building and made her way over to the ventilation shaft. Before she entered it, she made sure the dragons were close enough to see her enter, but far enough away that she could get in with a few moments to spare. As long as they knew she was within this building, they would not leave it and what would hopefully become the blast radius whenever she detonated the power source.

Once inside, she rolled through the levels of the factory in her morph ball form, watching through the vents at every opportunity she could take. This was indeed where the Purists were manufacturing bullets. Adam and Elisa had been right about that. She did not know too much about how factories operated, but she noticed two distinct types of chemicals being produced and one area on the floor below that where metal was being smelted into tiny pieces and injected with the chemicals from the floor above. Samus observed for a while in silence as the people within the building looked around in confusion at the sounds of the screeching dragons above.

It was not long, however, before the dragons began dive-bombing the building itself, the impact causing everyone to jump and look around in fear. As soon as Samus could hear the jaws of the one of the dragons tearing through the ventilation system on the roof, she quickly returned to rolling down toward the basement, toward the unstable energy signature below.

It did not take her long to find it. The basement was a typical boiler room with several large commercial gas boilers, but they had all gone out of commission years ago. There was simply no way to run gas to an abandoned building without alerting the gas company to the activity. No, this building was powered by what appeared to be a massive make-shift furnace off to one side of the basement. And Samus knew exactly what powered this furnace: Afloraltite.

Never, in all her years, had she forgotten the smell of burning Afloraltite. It was the sort of thing she could smell even in her nightmares, mixed with the throat-burning scents of buildings on fire and charred bodies.

The scent triggered something akin to rage in her as she emerged from the air vent and unmorphed. Slowly, she walked over to the furnace, noting the large reserves of crystalized afloraltite off to the side. The furnace was cool now; its last batch of crystals might have burned hours ago, but they would keep the whole factory running for a day or more. As she heard the dragons tear through the walls on the floors above her and the screams of the factory workers as they were gobbled up by the beasts, Samus merely ran her hand along a few of the crystals. Though she did not remember much about being a child, she could suddenly recall once being fond of the crystals' sleek hard shapes and almost golden translucence. Afloraltite was hardly considered a pretty stone, but to a small girl living on a poor mining colony, it had looked like something from another world.

Samus leaned casually against the pile of crystals as she heard the dragons approaching. It was not long before she heard one tear through the stairwell and another one through the vents she had rolled down. At first she did not react as the creatures spotted her and began their frenzied rush toward their cornered prey.

Samus merely remained still and watched as the creatures approached her. It was not until the last possible moment that she disappeared into her morph ball form, leaving only a single powerbomb at the base of the crystal pile and boosting away into the furnace.

As the powerbomb detonated, so did the massive afloraltite stores, and as the factory went up into a burse of dirty golden light, the dragons were completely incinerated within seconds. The force of the explosion did not stop at the factory though, and the blast could be felt for several miles in all directions, bringing down all of the nearby buildings within a block's radius, and of course, the factory itself.

There was no warning before it collapsed, its fall happening instantaneously when the afloraltite ignited and destroyed nearly everything in its path.

For a long time afterward, nothing moved as the dust settled on what had once been a factory and several warehouses but was now nothing but twisted metal and ash. It took a long time, but after a while, from beneath the mangled and warped remains of the afloraltite furnace, a lone figure emerged.

The armor-clad form of Samus crawled painstakingly from beneath the rubble, each movement taking a tremendous amount of effort. She could hear the ringing in her ears as she energy tanks screamed to let her know they had been completely depleted in the blast. Her suit had reverted back to its simplest state, unable to maintain the Varia or Gravity enhancements any longer. But the once golden armor was a dull lifeless brass, and the parts that had once glowed green were now dark. As Samus clawed her way from what was now a grave, she collapsed as she made it to the surface. Her armor now heavy and useless, she dematerialized it back into the metal disk chained to her neck as she lay on her left side, dazed for a moment.

When she finally heard her phone ring, she waited a moment before tapping on her earpiece to answer the call.

"Samus?" Adam's voice rang into her ear, the only sound for miles save for the sounds of the flames eating ravenously away at the intact buildings in the distance. "Samus Aran, can you read me?"

She smiled for a moment before choking on the ash and smoke in the air around her.

"Samus?" Adam called as her heard her cough. "We saw the explosion. Were you able to take out the Space Dragons? What is your status?"

She tried to roll a bit and prop herself up on her left arm, but it took nearly all of her effort just to do that. "Adam…" she eventually choked out, coughing on lungfuls of air that burned just to breathe in. "Objective… complete…"

 


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

The sun had gone down several hours ago, and the night air was still thick with smoke from the remaining fires that continued to eat away at the surrounding buildings. At some point, Samus realized that the ash and debris falling from the sky had become mixed with snow, and as the night went on the temperatures continued to drop. Around her, sirens blared as rescue vehicles tried to get through barricaded streets and red lights flashed as they went by. She was a safe distance away now, though, as she sat at the periphery of the makeshift medical camp watching families and friends find one another amongst the chaos. Some people had been injured from the fallout of the blast, and the medical workers were stretched thin trying to care for so many patients. But most injuries were minor, at least from her perspective, and if there were any fatalities, they had been minimal. The military had done a good job of evacuating people.

Samus sat out of the back of an open supply van, wrapped in a blanket she had received from one of the nurses and breathing in oxygen from a mask they had given her. They had set her broken arm and given her a temporary sling for it, and then, at her request, they had more or less left her alone. She had refused any further treatment when she realized how hard of a time they were having taking care of all of the civilians.

"Miss White?"

Samus looked up when she heard the alias she had given to the medical staff. Not wanting to answer any questions right now or end up on the cover of a news web page, she had simply identified herself as Miss Carrie White. It seemed like an appropriate alias for someone who had just burned down half of a city in Maine.

"Yes?" Samus responded through her mask, looking up at the young nurse. This one seemed to have taken a particular interest in making sure she was all right and had been the one to treat her arm. She was a young woman, barely old enough for her job. She was tall and thin with long red hair, and she was the sort of soft, pale girl Samus knew wouldn't survive a minute in a fight.

"How are you feeling?" the girl approached Samus but stayed a respectful distance away having earlier noted how the bounty hunter had stiffened when anyone came near her. "You seem to be coughing less."

Samus just nodded. "Guess the smoke inhalation wasn't as bad as we though."

The girl smiled. "Don't let that fool you. It was only an hour ago you were coughing up black soot, Miss White." She suddenly seemed awkward as she gestured next to where Samus was sitting out of the back of the van. "Do you mind if I join you? They're making us take breaks periodically, and this is mine."

Samus shrugged. "By all means."

"Thank you." The girl sat down by Samus but far enough away that she didn't make her uncomfortable. "My name's Jessica, by the way." She held out her right hand as though waiting for Samus to shake it, but the bounty hunter just stared at it. Realizing her mistake, she suddenly blushed. "Oh… right. Sorry."

"It's all right." Samus continued trying to focus on breathing in the oxygen, trying to ignore the scents of fire, burning buildings, afloraltite, and what she imagined to be charred bodies. Although there was nothing to suggest there were any actual charred bodies in the area, most people having survived with the exception of the Purist terrorists in the factory. She was not sure what scents were present now or just in her memories, which were working dangerously hard to assert themselves again.

"So…" the girl asked, approaching the topic slowly, "I know you said you don't want anyone to treat you or take you to a hospital, but is there anyone coming for you? Are you waiting for someone?"

Samus nodded. Feeling so exposed around strangers made her uncomfortable, but she knew she had at least needed the oxygen. When she had managed to get up from the site of the explosion and start walking toward the medical camp, she had been dizzy and coughing up black soot and blood. The nurses did not know about the blood, and she intended to keep it that way. Still, she had not been able to relax at all, still on her guard and waiting for another terrorist or Space Dragon to appear at any moment. Her left hand had been on a pistol in her coat pocket for the past hour.

"That's good," Jessica continued. "I would hate to think you didn't have anyone to go back to."

Samus shrugged. "It wouldn't bother me."

Jessica shifted uncomfortably. "Still… I know you have the right to refuse it, but you really do need medical care."

Samus looked at the girl, who suddenly became very self-conscious under the bounty hunter's gaze. "Well, at least there is someone coming for me. Does that make you feel better?" She knew Adam had left his post on the other end of town as soon as he had been able to get away. He and Elisa were coming to pick her up in her car so the three of them could head over to the hospital in Rosewood. He had insisted Samus stay where she was and try to rest, and for once, she had not objected.

"Yes… although you shouldn't be concerned with how I feel." The girl fidgeted for a moment. "I'm not really sure how to bring this up, Ms. White, so if you will please bear with me for a moment… When I was a young girl, my colony was attacked by Space Pirates. We were a weapons manufacturing factory town. Nothing big or fancy, but they set their sights on our resources. They held me and a few other girls from my village hostage as collateral and forced the adults to make weapons for them. The GF military didn't have a big presence in the area because it was an Outer Planet."

Samus listened silently to the girl's story, intrigued by where it was going.

"We were rescued by a warrior who happened to be in the area. She took out the Space Pirates and set us free. I'd never seen anything like her before. She wasn't famous or anything at the time, but it was Samus Aran." The girl looked very seriously at Samus and held her eye contact. "I never did get to properly thank her, Miss White. But if I ever were to see her again, I would want her to know I'm alive and well, and so are the other girls she saved. And that if I could ever do anything to help her, even in a small way, I would be very happy to."

Samus maintained eye contact with the girl and nodded slightly. "I'm sure if Samus Aran were here, she would be very grateful for the way you've been caring for the people here, and she would be very pleased to know you had grown up and made a career of helping people. I think if she were here, she would be proud of you. And I know I'm personally grateful for the level of care you've shown me tonight."

Jessica smiled. "Thank you, Miss White. And don't worry, I told the other nurses you wanted to be alone. I just wanted to talk to you for a minute while I had the chance."

Samus smiled tiredly. "Well, thank you for that."

The girl smiled as she stood up. "Thank you, Ma'am… for everything."

The bounty hunter watched the girl walk away before she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall of the van. Her job involved spending so much time around death and destruction, it was easy to lose sight of why she did what she did. Thank you's were few and far between, and though she felt anxious and uncomfortable here, the girl's words had eased her spirit a little. She remembered that mission and the girls she had rescued. It had been in her early days as a bounty hunter, long before she was contracted to exterminate the metroids on Zebes. Sitting alone, she reflected on those earlier missions for a while, back before she had really been anybody. Her throat and chest still burned as she tried to breathe the oxygen, but she felt a little more relaxed.

She must have dozed off for a moment because she awoke to a hand gently moving her shoulder and the sound of Adam's voice.

"Lady… Lady…" he said softly as Samus opened her eyes.

She was disoriented by the flashing lights and the sirens as her eyes tried to adjust to focus on him. There was an acute burning in her throat as she gasped at the air and placed her left hand on his forearm.

"Adam…" she murmured as he took a seat beside her and held her steady. She felt herself lean into him as she took in the scents of burning and recalled what had been happening before she fell asleep.

Adam knew it would take her a minute to get reoriented and just gently ran his hand down her back as he waited. He was surprised to see she had actually fallen asleep and realized just how much the battle had taken out of her.

"Adam," she said again after a minute, this time with more conviction as she pulled the oxygen mask off of her face and looked up at him, "what's going on? What's the status of the city?"

"Evacuated. Fires are 80% under control. More medical personnel are coming in to handle the overflow, and authorities were able to take three Purist conspirators into custody after they tried to retaliate for the factory bombing." His face was stoic as he recounted the events, but he ran his fingers gently through Samus's hair as he pulled her close in an embrace. "I'm glad you're still with us, Lady. I really thought we had lost you for a while."

Samus, not typically one to show affection, nestled her face into her friend's shoulder as her hugged her. There had been a period of time, before she had been able to dig herself out of the remains of the factory, when his connection to her had been lost and her vitals had shown up as non-existent. The two of them stayed together like that for a while, Samus realizing how warm his skin was in comparison to hers, which must have been like ice. She leaned closer into him and let him support her weight for a moment while she rested, finding comfort in knowing that someone she trusted was watching out for her. It was a rare thing.

As much pain as she was in just trying to breathe, she was thankful for one peaceful respite amongst the chaos. The afloraltite and burning smells stung at her throat, and memories of her home-planet swirled with the present. She felt tears running silently down her face as she stayed in Adam's embrace, the adrenaline having completely left her body now, leaving her feeling heavy, cold, and empty. Of course, she knew what this feeling was, coming down from her battle-mode. Usually though, it happened when she was in the privacy of her own ship.

"Samus," Adam whispered to her very seriously, "I need you to know, if anyone asks you any questions about what happened here today, you have to tell them that I authorized this use of force. This is Earth, so it's not like a normal planet, and the Feds could end up all over you for this one, and you can't afford to be liable for this kind of unauthorized action. I've already told HQ and spoken to Chairman Keaton himself and told them I authorized everything you did. Understand?"

Samus unburied her face from his shoulder, looked up at him, and nodded. "Affirmative."

"Samus," he asked, looking confused. "Are you… crying?"

Her face suddenly turned red as she buried it back in his shoulder and pulled the blanket up over her head. "Don't be ridiculous. You know I can't do that! They engineered it out of me back in the laboratory I was made in!"

Adam laughed and gently ran his hand along her back. "It's good to have you back, Lady. It's very good to have you back."

Samus smiled. "It's good to be back. I honestly had no idea if I'd make it out of that factory. That's how my father died."

"Hmmm? An afloraltite explosion?"

Samus nodded, her head still under the blanket. "We were a mining colony. When the Space Pirates raided trying to steal the afloraltite, he detonated it and took out most of their fleet. It burned up all of the aflorlatite reserves so the survivors couldn't get anything from our colony."

"And that's what you did?"

The blanket nodded again. "Yes, but I took cover in an afloraltite furnace because I knew it was designed to stand up to most afloraltite combustion. Plus, I had my suit on."

"Lady, if you were wearing your suit, how did you end up with such bad smoke inhalation?"

Samus's face emerged from the blanket and looked up at Adam. "Well, it kind of died."

"It's dead?" Adam looked shocked and slightly horrified.

"Well… it's only mostly dead, and there's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive."

"Really?" Adam's look changed to one of amusement.

Samus nodded. "Oh yes. I can fix it. It will just take time." She sat up and pulled back from Adam's embrace, surveying her condition. "But I guess you could say the same of this body too. It will just take time."

"Speaking of which," Adam said as he stood up and helped support Samus so she could get to her feet, "we need to get back to Rosewood and get you to the hospital."

Samus held tightly to the general as she stood, still feeling a little wobbly from lack of oxygen due to her injured airways. "I guess I can't put off going there any longer." She sighed. "I won't try to fight you on it."

Adam laughed. "Well yes," he began as they started walking to Elisa's car, "but there's the other thing too."

"What other thing?" Samus raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"Maggie went into labor hours ago. As far as I know, she might have had the baby by now."

"Wait?" Samus stopped where she was, looking as though someone had slapped her. "What?"

 


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

The drive back to Rosewood went considerably smoother once they exited the city limits of Bangor. There was a bit of traffic from emergency workers and news crews heading toward the city, but very little heading away from it. Most people, it seemed, had chosen to stay where they were in their designated safe zones as opposed to evacuating to more distant locations.

Elisa drove quickly once they got onto the empty highway. It was a very dark night and the snow was coming down much more quickly now. A few inches had already accumulated in the wooded areas on the side of the road. Weather reports predicted it could get as cold as single digit temperatures that night, and as it was, it was already around twenty degrees by the time they had left. Marza and the girls had opted to stay behind and continue to care for the wounded.

Adam had chosen to sit in the back seat with Samus, who lay asleep with her head on his lap. Absently running his fingers through the sleeping woman's hair, the General looked out the windows as the world sped by. It was an unseasonably cold night, even for a city this far north, and he had not expected snow.

After a long stretch of silence, Elisa looked over at Adam through the rearview mirror.

"Hey," she asked quietly, as his eyes darted over to the officer. "How is she doing?"

Adam looked down at Samus for what must have been the hundredth time that car ride and watched himself gently continue to pet her hair. It was a sort of nervous reaction, and he almost felt as though if he lost contact with her, she'd disappear again.

"I can't say." The concern was obvious in his voice. Moments before they had all gotten in the car, Samus had been seized by a coughing fit that had gripped her with so much force it nearly brought her to her knees. Once it passed and she stabilized, they realized she had been coughing up black soot and blood. "Her breathing seems all right for now. She should make it to the hospital all right, but the sooner we get her there, the better."

"Yeah," Elisa acknowledged, her eyes on the road out in front of her. "You don't think she'll try to go see Maggie first before getting her own treatment, do you?"

Adam shook his head. "Unlikely. She actually hates maternity wards. Besides, if she's actually willing to let us take her to a hospital, she must be in really bad shape." The same could be said about the fact that she was asleep in front of them and had fallen asleep surrounded by strangers earlier. He did not mention to Elisa that her entire power suit had apparently shut down on top of everything else.

Curious, Adam reached for the chain on her neck and pulled out the metallic disk attached to it. The chain itself was heavy, almost like a choker-chain on a dog, and the pendant was surprisingly heavy as well. It was her familiar symbol, a circle with an S-shaped lightning bolt going through it, and while he had seen her bear that symbol in different contexts for as long as he had known her, he had never been exactly sure what it meant. When she was in the Army, he had assumed the strange-looking "S" stood for "Samus", but that was before he had realized it had some kind of connection to her origins.

Turning the symbol over in his hands, he looked along the length of the chain and noted once more that there was no way to open or close it; it was permanently affixed to her neck. It had been a source of contention while she was in the Army because wearing jewelry went against the uniform, but once it was established that it could not be removed, they had somehow waived the restriction for it on religious grounds. He wasn't sure what religion, but the higher-ranking officers had found something to put in her paperwork. No one bothered her about it again after that.

Samus stirred slightly, and he placed the pendant back where it had been. Her face appeared suddenly anxious, and her body tensed as though she were having a nightmare. Gently, he placed his hand on her forehead and ran it over her hair until she stopped moving and relaxed once more. It would not do for Samus to go into a full-blown night terror at the moment, and seeing how it soothed her, he returned to petting her hair for the rest of the drive.

The roads had become slick with black ice by the time they made it to the hospital, and the temperature must have dropped another ten degrees. Adam was glad Elisa had a hovercar instead of a car with wheels or else it would have been too treacherous to drive quickly. After she parked, the Officer went on ahead of Samus and Adam so she could check Samus in at the front desk and see how long the wait would be. Adam stayed behind and knew he had to wake the sleeping woman beside him.

He looked down at Samus once more. It was a truly bizarre state in which to see her. Normally so fiercely guarded, she looked like she could be any regular woman as she slept, save for the dark phazon scars on the right side of her face. Knowing that she could possibly wake up in a feral state, Adam was very gentle as he shook her shoulder and called out to her.

"Lady," he murmured, and when she did not respond, he repeated himself louder. "Lady… Samus? Samus Aran?"

"Mmmm?" Samus groaned softly as her eyes fluttered open and she sat up very slowly. While she may have looked awake to anyone else, Adam could tell by the blank, lifeless stare of her eyes that she was still mostly sleeping. He also knew that this was when she could be at her most dangerous.

Fortunately, she did not wake in a violent state this time around, and after he spoke to her softly for a couple of minutes, Samus seemed to come to her senses and recognize where she was. Looking around, she took a moment to process that they were in a parking garage and knew that they had arrived at Rosewood General Hospital.

She turned to look at Adam. "Did I sleep the entire way here?"

The General nodded. "Yes, you did. You actually seemed comfortable."

Samus looked down and to the side, somewhat ashamed. "You know I really don't want to be here…" But she glanced, looking defeated, at the temporary sling that held her right arm, and, as if on cue, she fell into another coughing spell. Though this one was not nearly as bad as the one back in Bangor, she still found black soot and blood on her sleeve when she pulled it away from her mouth. "Shit," she muttered.

Adam did not say anything for a moment as he watched her mentally run though all things she thought were wrong with her and take inventory of her injuries. She had a very analytical approach to being hurt.

"Shit," she repeated, closing her eyes and looking as though she were trying to repress the sudden anger that welled up within her. "Fucking Hell, Aran! How could you let this happen to yourself?" She grit her teeth, and when she opened her eyes, she looked like she was about to fly into a rage. But instead, she took a deep breath and held it for a moment before exhaling. And then she repeated that process a few more times until she was relatively calm.

"You ok, Sam?" Adam asked, relieved that she had been able to hold herself back from flying off the handle.

Still focused on her slow breathing, Samus nodded. "I'll be fine. Just need to go in there and get this over with, right?"

Adam helped Samus out of the car, and they made their way down to the emergency room together. When they got to the waiting area, they found it was mostly empty aside from a kid with a broken wrist and some lady with a nosebleed. However, they also noticed live news footage from Bangor broadcasting on all of the holo-screens. Samus sighed, obviously not wanting to watch everything they had just gotten away from.

"Samus Aran?" The triage nurse called out to her suddenly, and she looked over to see Elisa also standing behind the desk. The heads of everyone in the waiting room turned at the sound of her name, and Samus felt her face flush with embarrassment. She must have looked like hell, she thought.

Trying to ignore the stares following her, Samus went over to the triage nurse's desk. "That's me," she muttered.

"Ok, Miss Aran, if you could just come around back here so we can check your vitals and have you fill out some forms?"

Samus went around to the other side and sat where the nurse told her to sit. Adam followed close by her side, and she was grateful to have him and Elisa there with her. She knew her heart was racing. Hospitals and Samus just did not mix well, but when she got the papers, she filled them out to the best of her ability, providing all of her medical history and her health insurance information. Given the nature of her profession, she always took out top of the line health insurance policies, so she was happy not to have a co-pay at least.

Once that was all finished, the triage nurse took her paperwork and began checking her vitals. However, as the blood pressure cuff was taking its reading, the nurse looked disturbed by something on one of the forms and looked over at Samus.

"What's your genetic status?" she asked, looking between the form and the bounty hunter. This was the moment Samus always dreaded.

"Semi-human," she replied. "Hybrid of undocumented origin."

The nurse looked at her skeptically and more than a little fearfully. "Undocumented? As in some sort of unknown alien?"

"That's right," Samus replied, trying to keep her tone civil. "Class Delta Semi-human. Unknown species. Unknown origin. No data." She recited her Army information verbatim. It had always felt somewhat degrading to explain herself that way, and people always reacted with apprehension. Humans had an innate fear of the unknown, but she couldn't explain her origins to them. She would rather people assume she was part Space Pirate than have that sort of information circling around out there.

"Okay…" the nurse seemed hesitant as she looked at Samus's blood pressure and heart rate on the screen. "What are those supposed to be at?"

Samus bit her tongue and waited a moment while the urge to snap at the woman passed. "Same range as a human," she said once she calmed down. "For all intents and purposes, just assume I'm like a human unless I tell you otherwise. And yes, I know I have high blood pressure."

The nurse just nodded and jotted something down on her chart. "So here's the deal," she said, looking at Adam and Elisa for some reason instead of Samus. "We're not really equipped to deal with… extraterrestrials. Most folks round these parts have never even met an alien, and I don't think any of the Residents know how to deal with that. We've only got one attending physician on tonight, but she just finished up in labor and delivery. She's dealt with this sorta stuff before so I'm gonna have her come down and take a look."

Samus could feel herself getting angry again, but it was causing her chest to constrict. She tried to calm herself, but it was too late, and she launched into another fit of coughing, violently wrenching her arm away from the blood pressure machine while the cuff was still attached and throwing the portable machine to the ground. The nurse dashed over to pick up the fallen piece of expensive medical equipment as Adam ran to Samus and freed her arm from the cuff. Kneeling down beside her, he tried to keep his friend steady, but the coughing had become so forceful at this point, she nearly fell out of her chair. As it was, Adam caught her and helped ease her down to sit on the ground, supporting her in an upright position as her body wracked itself with another intense round of coughing. Adam saw the nurse inching away from Samus and over to the far corner of the office as the bounty hunter began choking up dark blood and ashy soot.

Samus's whole body convulsed so badly with the coughing, Adam had to sit down behind her and pull her into his embrace just to keep her from falling face-first into the ground. Unfortunately, the bounty hunter could not catch a breath in between coughs and her gasping seemed labored as she continued

"She can't breathe!" Adam yelled over to the nurse, who eyed Samus apprehensively. "She needs help! She can't—"

Before Adam could finish his sentence, Samus's whole body seized up suddenly before falling forward again as she vomited up dark blood and ash all over the floor. As soon as that was finished, however, Samus went right back to coughing.

"Her blood isn't acid!" Elisa yelled over at the nurse, who looked horrified that the police officer had known what she was thinking. "You need to help her. It's not going to kill you!"

Recognizing the severity of the situation, the nurse pulled something that looked like an Epi-pen from one of the drawers and jammed it into the back of Samus's shoulder just as her face was starting to turn blue. Within seconds, Samus's coughing slowed, and when it stopped entirely, the color began to return to her cheeks slightly. But the huntress was exhausted, and as soon as she tried to look up, she felt the room begin to spin and lost consciousness in Adam's embrace.

"Code seven! ER triage!" the nurse called into a small microphone on her breast pocket as Adam gently laid Samus's unconscious form on her side as far from the blood as he could manage.

Elisa knelt down beside him and used her fingers to comb some of Samus's hair out of her face. She noted the slow, much more stable rhythm to her breathing now, and she was glad Samus seemed to be out of danger for a moment.

"Paging Dr. Montgomery to the Emergency Department!" the nurse yelled into her microphone as the same words shouted from the loudspeakers. At the same time, two men arrived with a stretcher. Although the men could easily achieve the task themselves, Elisa and Adam helped them gently take Samus' body from the floor and lay it out onto the stretcher. As soon as she was up there, they placed another oxygen mask on her face and injected something into her arm.

"What's going on with this patient?" one of the men asked Adam, Elisa, and the nurse.

"Severe smoke inhalation," Elisa replied. "Possible internal injuries. Broken right arm. She was in a fight and got caught in one of the buildings that collapsed in Bangor."

"And she's a semi-human!" the nurse added as she passed Samus's charts over to the two men. As one continued to fuss with Samus's oxygen and start an IV drip on her, the other read her chart and his eyes grew wide.

"Samus Aran?" he asked, looking from Elisa to Adam in disbelief.  _"The_  Samus Aran? Is she the bounty hunter? Did she take out those monsters in Bangor?"

"Yes," Adam nodded, looking very sternly at the young man, "but let's keep that quiet for now. We don't need any hostiles finding out where she is or what condition she is in, all right?"

The young man grinned but nodded. "Yes, sir! We'll take good care of her."

"You will." The General stared the young man directly in the eyes. "This woman is to be given the absolute highest level of care humanly possible."

His grin faded as he nodded his head more seriously. "Yes, sir. I understand."

 


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Adam sighed and thumped his fist into the wall as he watched his cup filled up with the sad, watered down brown liquid the hospital tried to pass off as coffee. He was exhausted and beyond frustrated, and the headache from caffeine withdrawal was finally getting to him. He hated this waiting room. He hated the dated lavender pastel wallpaper and the oxidized pictures of flowers than hung on the walls. He hated that their only vending machine and coffee maker seemed to predate the Space Pirate War, but most of all, he hated the six holo-screens that were all projecting the same thing: coverage of the Bangor incident.

When the decrepit machine finally finished pissing out its sorry excuse for coffee, Adam took the cup and downed the lukewarm liquid as if he were shooting whiskey. It didn't even burn on the way down. When he was finished, he placed his disposable cup back under the spout, entered the PIN for his credits once more, and helped himself to a second cup.

Samus had been in testing for over an hour, and it felt like a lot longer than that as he sat in the room, trying to keep his mind off of the incessant footage that played on loop from all of the six screens. And why did they need six giant screens in a 30' by 30' room? Naturally, at this hour of the night, there were no personnel around to turn them off or lower the volume. Elisa had gone up to see Maggie a while ago, but he had opted to stay down here and wait for any word from Dr. Montgomery. Without Samus or anyone else by his side, he couldn't get out of his own head, and his head was a terrifying place filled with worst-case scenarios.

She had still been unconscious when they had taken her away, but her vitals had been stable, and even now, he could see a read-out of her status on his watch. It was the only thing that had stopped him from forcing his way in there to be with her. He worried about her, coming up with countless situations in his head in which one of the nurses was a agent for the Purists or another bounty hunter tracked her here to finish what the Space Dragons had started. He worried about Marza, Evie, and Abby as well, but they had been text messaging back and forth periodically, and they did not seem to be in any danger. In fact, they were getting ready to head back to Blackacre with a couple of Marine escorts.

But there had been no word on Samus's condition, and he had not gotten chance to meet Dr. Montgomery, who was apparently in charge of her care. There had been close calls with Samus before, times he had been certain she had not made it through a mission, but somehow, she always came back. Even if she had to infiltrate a Space Pirate Vessel and steal one of their ships to do it. He was certain she would survive this time as well, but he hated the feeling of helplessness that ate away at him.

He nearly jumped when he finally heard a doorknob turn, hoping for information, but he turned to see it was only Morrigan coming into the room. At least she would be better than no company at all, but he did not feel up to comforting her at the moment. Much to his surprise, however, she was practically glowing with joy.

"Morrigan?" he asked as she walked over to him. He wasn't sure how she could be so happy at a time like this.

"Adam!" She replied with a grin. "I'm a great-grandmother!" She laughed.

It took him a moment, but then he felt stupid for forgetting why she was here. Samus wasn't the only patient at this hospital tonight. "Congratulations," he muttered and tried to smile, but his voice and face betrayed his feelings. Trying to feign enthusiasm, he asked, "How are Maggie and the baby?"

"Maggie's doing just fine. I've never seen her so in love… but little Buck is just incredible. Ten pounds even, and he looks just like a human baby… save for the blue skin and green hair." She laughed again. "Bucephalus Bishop Sinclaire."

Adam smiled a bit more genuinely this time. "You must be very proud."

"I am," she said softly, as she and Adam sat down next to one another. "You imagine meeting your grandchildren someday, but you don't count on meeting your great-grandchildren. And having lost both of my children…" She paused, and for the briefest moment, her expression resembled Samus's when she tried to hold back her feelings. "I just never thought this day would come. Or that I would be reunited with Virginia's daughter as well."

Adam nodded. "I suppose Elisa filled you in on everything?"

"Yes," Morrigan replied, her mood suddenly becoming heavier. "How is Samus? Still no word?"

Adam shook his head. "Her vitals have remained stable. I think she fainted from exhaustion more than anything else. She was very tired…"

"She's strong though." Morrigan smiled and put her hand on Adam's reassuringly. "That Samus Aran is a tough, scary bitch, and she's going to make it through this just fine. You, on the other hand, General Malkovich, are only human, and drowning yourself in caffeine like you do is only going to make it harder to sit still." When Adam didn't respond, she continued, "I know that's an odd way for me to describe Samus, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't how I felt. I love her, but that woman is a fighter like I've never seen before, and she's a survivor."

"I know she is… probably better than anyone. I guess I just don't like feeling helpless."

"Heh," Morrigan laughed dryly. "I've gotten the impression one should get used to that feeling when dealing with Samus."

As if on cue, the door opened once more, and the nurse from the triage station came through. "General Malkovich?"

Adam and Morrigan stood up and made their way over to the nurse.

"Ms. Aran is out of testing now," she said, looking between the General and the old woman. "She's been admitted into a room, and she wants you with her while she speaks with Dr. Montgomery."

"She's awake?" Adam asked, genuinely shocked.

"Oh yes, she has been for a while." The nurse appeared to shudder. "That was an… interesting experience."

Morrigan looked confused and Adam could only imagine how Samus had reacted to waking up and finding herself in a hospital. Judging by the nurse's demeanor though, he imagined it didn't go as badly as it might have.

They took the elevator up to Samus's room, following the nurse, who stepped off to the side when they arrived. Adam entered first to see Samus sitting up in her bed, watching his every move.

"Hey you," she said with a smile as he walked in. Her voice was hoarse and there was a certain light-hearted lethargy to her that led him to believe they had given her something for the pain.

"Hello, Lady," he said as he walked over to her bedside, Morrigan following behind him. He noted that her arm had finally been set properly and put into a real brace and heavy-duty sling. She no longer appeared to be attached to oxygen or any kind of machines.

Samus just smiled at them before leaning back on her pillow and closing her eyes, appearing to drift to sleep once more.

"That would be the pain meds kicking in," said a woman's voice suddenly from across the room. Adam looked up, surprised that her had not noticed the tall, red haired doctor sooner. She was a stern looking but attractive woman, probably in her early forties, and she wore a white lab coat with the name "Dr. Montgomery" embroidered in blue thread. "We had to give her a pretty high dose before they had any effect, but she seems to have gotten comfortable now. We had to give her something for anxiety as well."

Adam looked over to the sleeping Samus and noticed she looked strangely peaceful. "Has she been going in and out?"

Dr. Montgomery nodded and walked over to the General. "Her body appears to be trying to enter some kind of stasis, but she's been fighting it. At least, that's what I think is going on. I don't know her secondary species, so I can't say."

"It's probably accurate," Adam replied quickly. "She practically goes into a coma if she's sick or injured. She'll sleep for long periods of time and heal extremely fast."

"I see." The doctor noted something on her chart. "I've come across a lot more Semi-Humans than the average person, but I've never met one like her before."

"You've come across Semi-Humans working here?" Adam was confused by her statement, given the homogenous population of Rosewood humans.

"Oh no. I only moved out here a few years ago. Before my ex-husband and I separated, we worked at a hospital on one of the Space Stations that orbits Daiban. A lot of Semi-Humans and other species used to come through there, and we had to be able to treat them all. It was difficult work, but it came in handy tonight."

"So, Doctor," Morrigan asked, "what's going on with Samus? Is she going to be okay? Can we bring her home tonight?"

Doctor Montgomery smiled. "Samus will be just fine as long as she has somewhere safe to recover. We're keeping her overnight for observation, but as long as she has someone to go home with, we likely won't have any problem releasing her in the morning. That said, she's suffering from a severe case of smoke inhalation. We've given her some bronchodilators, and she is breathing much better now, but there's damage to her lungs and it's imperative she stay away from smoke or any irritants that can hurt them while they are healing. She had some internal injuries, but those already seem to be healing on their own. As long as she is stable and improving, we don't want to touch them." She then nodded to the sling on Samus's arm. "One of our residents, Dr. Torres specializes in orthopedics. At first we thought the arm was going to require surgery, but she was able to set it." She looked at Adam and Morrigan very seriously. "It's going to take a long time to heal. It's a very bad break, and if she were human, I doubt she'd ever regain full use of her arm. Dr. Torres seems to think her alien DNA is going to save it though, given how much it had already healed from the time Samus says it broke."

"That's all good news," Morrigan said, hopefully, a look of relief washing over her face. Adam, however, felt less certain.

"So she's going to be out of commission for a while?" he asked, looking from Samus to the doctor.

"Yes," Dr. Montgomery said and nodded very slowly, eyeing Adam. "She's going to be fine but only if she can avoid further damage. I don't know how long it will take exactly, but I would say she should avoid combat for at least three months."

The General sighed and shook his head. "She's not going to like that."

"I'm aware. I was hoping you and anyone else close to her could try to keep her grounded for a little while."

"We can try," Adam muttered, looking at Samus once more. It would not be an easy task. "Is that all?"

"No… there is one more thing." The Doctor's face grew even more serious. "If she consents to it, I want her to have a psych evaluation in the morning. She claims she's not currently under the care of any mental health provider, but I think she should be. I can't stress that enough."

"Something happened when she woke up, I take it?" Adam's voice was very calm. He knew this was coming.

Dr. Montgomery clicked her tongue as she looked at her chart again. "Yes… yes it did. She jumped up and punched out one of the orderlies. Tried to beat him with the IV pole too, but we were fortunate enough to have a few people around who were able to placate her. That's where the sedative came in."

"Samus suffers from severe PTSD," Adam stated, very matter-of-factly, hoping the orderly did not decide to press charges or sue. That would be all they needed, and he was pretty sure Samus's insurance agent already hated her.

"I figured as much, and I figured this wouldn't be the first time. Fortunately, he only ended up with a black eye, and he's not planning to press charges. But he did hint at some form of legal action unless we could get her to agree to get some kind of treatment."

"Of course." Adam nodded. "I'll see to it that she gets the help she needs. I know she was already planning to see someone, but what with the excitement this past week and the dragons…"

"I understand, General Malkovich, and no one is angry with Samus. It's an understandable response to waking up in a strange place, especially given her lifestyle. But it's also partially because of how chaotic this past week has been that I can't stress enough how badly I feel she needs an evaluation. Sooner rather than later. For her own sake, too, so she can actually get some rest."

"Of course…" he nodded again. He could not disagree with what the doctor was saying, and he was certain Samus would feel bad about the incident once she woke up. "Anything else, Doctor?"

Dr. Montgomery shook her head. "I think that about covers it. I do, however, want to see if we can coax her into letting her body enter her stasis when she comes around again. I was wondering, General Malkovich, if you would be willing to stay with her tonight? Or if you know anyone else who would be? I think she's fighting it because of the environment and because she doesn't know anyone."

"I'll stay." He glanced over to the pull-out couch, not looking forward to seeing if it was actually as uncomfortable as it looked.

"Good," she said, quickly clicking off her tablet and turning to Morrigan. "Now, Mrs. Sinclaire, I think we have a new baby boy to check up on. And General Malkovich, when she wakes up, please thank Ms. Aran for her service to Earth and the Federation. There are so many who would have been lost without her." Morrigan beamed with pride and wished Adam a goodnight as she and Dr. Montgomery headed out the door and back up to the maternity ward, leaving Adam alone with Samus.

As soon as they left, he dimmed the lights and locked the door. He turned down the temperature in the room and glanced at her vitals on his watch once more. As soon as he touched her forehead, he felt her whole body relax.

"It's all right now, Lady," he said to her very softly as her eyes opened for a moment and she looked up at him. "You can rest. Everyone is safe. You can rest for a while, Samus."

She didn't make any acknowledgment of what he had said, but when she drifted to sleep again, she didn't wake up until the next afternoon.

 


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

"Rhonda? What the hell?" Samus looked up incredulously from the document she was holding and stared at Morrigan. "Since when do I have a middle name?"

Morrigan just laughed and smiled at the bounty hunter. "Since you were born, dear. As evidenced by the birth certificate you're holding."

The two of them were sitting on the couch in the middle of Morrigan's living room, a box of documents and photographs at their feet. Morrigan wore a red housecoat, and Samus was in a faded Fleetwood Mac tee shirt and flannel pajama pants. It had been a week since Samus had been discharged from the hospital, and she and Adam had elected to stay at Blackacre for a few days or weeks depending on how long it took her to recover. Marza and the girls had gone back home in the days following the Bangor incident, once the FBI had taken over the investigation into the Purist cells and Samus felt reasonably sure there was no longer a threat to them. It seemed that once she had taken out Inga and blown up the factory, she had destroyed their base of operations in the area and a few of the major players in their organization.

Samus was doing considerably better than she had been earlier in the week. She had stayed up in her room for two days straight after getting out of the hospital, but she was coming downstairs more and more each day, much to Morrigan's delight. Her arm was still in its sling, and she still tired more quickly due to the damage to her lungs, but she was recovering well. Today, however, was the first time Samus decided she was ready to see what Adam had discovered up in the locked room when they first arrived, and though she did not want to go into the room itself, she was all right with having a box of photographs brought downstairs.

Her fingers traced over her birth certificate and her newly discovered middle name. An odd wave of indescribable emotion had flowed through her the moment she saw her date of birth for the first time. She couldn't explain it if anyone were to ask, but knowing when she was born and seeing her parents' names and her own full name, somehow made her feel just a little more real. She had been a human child at one time, born to human parents, instead of a weapon created in a lab as she had so often felt throughout her life. She looked next at a photograph of her parents sitting with her for a family photo. She saw pictures of herself as a baby with her mother, who looked younger than Samus did now.

Over the years, the image of her parents in her memory had faded gradually until there was nothing left but the outline of two people. It was strange finally seeing pictures of them and realizing how unfamiliar they looked. Her mother was a tall woman with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. She had Samus's eyes, but they were green, and her whole face seemed softer somehow. Her father was also very tall, and he had rusty red hair and a stubbly beard, and he seemed like a rougher looking person all around. Likely from working in the mines. She could see bits of herself in both of their faces, and it was strange to see such a young and happy looking couple with their new baby and realize the only thing she remembered about them was how they were murdered.

When all of the strange feelings got to be too much, she took a deep breath and turned the photos face down. It was a lot to take in all at once, particularly given how much effort she had put into escaping those memories over the years. The young Samus in the pictures hardly resembled the woman she was now, and it was so strange to think that she had lived at all prior to the K-2L raid. But here they were, photos upon photos of her when she had been a child. When she had been human.

"Are you all right?" Morrigan asked, as she took back the pictures Samus handed to her.

"I'm fine," Samus said with a nod, looking up at the old woman. "It's just a bit much, and I'm trying to process it. I've never seen anything like this before."

"I understand. It's been a very long time." As she had done so many times since Samus's arrival, Morrigan studied her granddaughter. She had become a lot more approachable in the past few days, and she had not seen her fly into a rage again since that night in the kitchen when she had broken the chair. Of course, there also had not been any more incidents of people trying to kill them since then, and it seemed she was finally starting to relax.

"I wish I had some pictures of the boy to show you," Samus said suddenly, catching Morrigan off guard. "I haven't actually seen a picture of him since he was about six or seven, and even then I didn't save it. From what I know about him though, he's a good kid. You'd like him, I think. I don't know him at all, and I know his father is biased when he tells me about him, but I think you'd like him."

The old woman nodded slowly and took her time before replying. It was the first Samus had voluntarily spoken to her of the subject, and she knew what a landmine it could be. "I think I would like him if I ever were to meet him."

Samus pursed her lips and seemed to lose herself in thought for a while. She had never spoken of the boy to anyone but Adam and Jack before, but somehow going through this box of memories had drawn her thoughts to him. She wasn't sure if it was because she was seeing her parents with herself as a child or because she had been seeing Maggie around the house carrying Buck, but she suspected it was some combination thereof. Perhaps there was something about finally confronting what was behind her that made her focus shift to the secret legacy she was leaving behind, her own child who would someday continue on after her death.

She picked up another picture, one of her and her mother that looked like it must have been taken not long before the raid. She thought of those last moments, her mother rescuing her from Ridley and standing face to face with the dragon, protecting her. She tried to imagine Virginia as the faceless form of her mother and realized for the first time how that scene must have really looked, just a regular young woman putting herself between her child and Ridley and saving her life in the process of sacrificing her own. She had been so small then and so terrified, and though she had always known it, her fear of Ridley had come from always seeing him through a child's eyes. Now as she looked back at the child she had been, even at the faces of her young parents, she realized just how far she had come, having repeatedly conquered the terrors of her youth.

There was something empowering about reimaging the event voluntarily, and somehow she knew when she had woken up that morning that it was the day she needed to confront that past. The hospital had made sure she completed a psychological evaluation before releasing her, and to no one's surprise, the doctor had prescribed her medication and had strongly recommended therapy. As soon as she was discharged, she started back on the same medications she had taken years ago after getting out of the Army: anti-anxiety pills for acute episodes, something to help her sleep, and a daily anti-depressant to keep her base anxiety level lower than it would be otherwise. Of course, it had only been a week, and the doctor had started her on a low dose, so she could not feel any major effects yet. She had reluctantly agreed to therapy, but in the couple of sessions she had done over video chat, she had not spoken much. Looking through the pictures with Morrigan felt more therapeutic than timed sessions with a stranger ever had.

"I'm glad I was able to meet you," Samus said after a long silence. After a lifetime of repressing emotions, the words felt clunky and awkward to say. "I know I probably haven't been the granddaughter you were hoping for, but I'm still glad."

Morrigan just smiled, but there was a certain sadness to it. "You're not what I expected, but I'm glad I was able to meet you as well, Samus. I only wish I had done it sooner, that perhaps I could have spared you from some of…" She paused. "Well, that doesn't matter now. I'm grateful to have you as my granddaughter. You may not be exactly as my Virginia was, but you are an incredible woman in your own right, and I could not be more proud of all you've done. Thank you, Samus."

"Heh." Samus felt her face turn red. She never knew how to respond to comments like that, no matter how many times she heard them. "I don't know much about what my mother was like, but I think she was a very brave person to have stood before Ridley to defend me… I wish I had known her."

"You would have liked her," Morrigan replied with a grin.

Samus smiled as well, looking down as she went through more pictures.

"There's another thing I wanted to say," Morrigan said, once she realized Samus was not planning to say anything. "I love you, Samus." She had made sure to let her granddaughter know that every night since she had gotten out of the hospital.

"Noted," the bounty hunter replied, the same response she had given each time Morrigan said it. But this time she looked up at the old woman and smiled, an unspoken affection in her eyes, and Morrigan knew that, in her own way, Samus was feeling the emotions she was unable to express aloud. Someday, perhaps that would change, but that would be a long time away. Until then, Morrigan was content to know what the hunter meant when she gave the seemingly cold response.

"Look," Samus said, suddenly looking away from the old woman and over to the window. "I suck at this emotional crap, so I'm not even going to pretend I know what I'm supposed to say here or how I'm supposed to say it. I had a long conversation with my son's father last night. The boy grew up without a mom, and you've spent most of my life thinking your granddaughter was dead. I think that maybe…" Her voice trailed off for a moment as she stared blankly at a photo in her hands. "I think maybe the two of you should at least be able to know each other. I mean, no one outside of this house knows I'm related to you, so you wouldn't be putting him in danger. His father has been trying to get me to give in and meet him for years, and he likes the idea of him at least getting to meet you."

Morrigan stared back at her for a long time, completely speechless. After a while, Samus looked up at her nervously. The bounty hunter had no idea how the old woman would react, and there were aspects of all outcomes that concerned her.

After a while, Morrigan finally took a breath and spoke. "I feel honored that you trust me with something like that. I would love to meet your son, but what if he learns of your identity?"

Samus shrugged. "I've thought a lot about that. He's not a young child anymore. He can keep a secret. If he finds out who I am, then he finds out. I don't know… I guess the boy just has a right to know. I think maybe, like me, he could use some closure with his identity."

"I see…"

Samus reached back down into the box and pulled out more photographs. As she looked through, one of the photographs caught her eye. "Son of a bitch!" she shouted abruptly as she looked at a picture of her younger self wearing a Bambi shirt and holding a stuffed deer. "That's why I remembered that!"

Morrigan just stared at her, not sure what to make of that reaction. She wondered if her granddaughter would ever cease to confuse her.

* * *

It was evening by the time Adam knocked on Samus's door. He knew she had been downstairs looking at old photos and talking to Morrigan earlier, but he did not know all of the details. When she had gone up to her room afterward, he assumed she had just gotten tired and wanted some alone time. It struck him as odd, however, when she did not come down for dinner. Normally, it had been one of the few things with which she had done consistently for the past week, so it concerned him when she did not show up for it tonight.

"Lady?" he called as he knocked on her door once more, listening for any signs of life. He was met with silence, however, and his mind instantly went back to the last time she had not answered her door. With a groan of annoyance he tried the knob, and predictably enough, it opened to an empty room with the window in the far corner open once more. "Not again," he muttered as he went over to the window and stuck his head out of it. "Samus? Did you run off again?"

"Relax," her voice suddenly called back to him, and he looked over to see she was merely siting on the roof. "I'm right here. I just wanted some air."

Carefully, Adam climbed out of the window and onto the sloped roof, making his way over to Samus with an abundance of caution and trying not to look down. He sat down beside her and glanced over at a bottle from which she had obviously been drinking. "Are you sure it's a good idea to be drinking whiskey on a sloped roof? Alone?"

"Technically," Samus said with a shrug, "even if I were to fall off of the roof from this height, it wouldn't do anything to me. We're only on the second floor. Besides, I've only had two drinks worth, and to be perfectly honest, I don't think you realize just what an absurd amount I would have to drink in order to get drunk, what with the genetically enhanced alien bits and all. Besides," she added with a grin, "I'm not alone. You're here, aren't you?"

"Not funny, Samus."

"Not trying to be. Just got a lot on my mind. Plus, I'm pretty sure this is the closest I'll ever get to taking a vacation."

Adam shook his head. "I guess you're going to do what you're going to do, and I can't stop you. Did things go all right with Morrigan?"

Samus nodded, leaning back and looking up at the stars. "It's a lot to process, but I think I'm finally getting some closure with the whole thing. I finally got to learn what my parents looked like and see myself back when I was still human. Did you know I have a middle name? And my birthday is August 6th?"

Adam laughed. "Yes, Rhonda. I knew about that."

Samus glared at him and playfully punched him on the arm. "And you didn't tell me?"

"First of all, ouch." He grabbed his arm in mock agony although it had not actually hurt. "Second of all, it just never came up, I guess. What with the attempted murders and all."

"That's no excuse!" Samus laughed. "I guess I'll be turning 34 earlier than I had planned."

"Somehow I have a feeling that's not what's bothering you."

"Good guess." She drank some more of the whiskey and then closed the bottle. "I don't even know where to begin. This whole job went to shit fast."

"You can say that again."

"It's just weird to think that this place has been here all my life… that I've actually had some family members all along. It kind of makes me wonder what my life would have been like if the Chozo hadn't found me. What if Federation officials had found me and been able to identify me and bring me here? Who would I have been?"

"Lady," Adam said softly, "I don't think it will serve you well to dwell on those questions. What's passed has passed."

"I know." Samus turned to regard her friend. She didn't look conflicted or angry, just thoughtful. "I just can't help wondering though. Before I killed that Purist woman, the one called Inga, she made sure to let me know she thought I was an abomination against nature. Human children shouldn't be taken and altered in a lab and turned into weapons. That part of her philosophy, at least, I agree with."

"I think any reasonable person would agree with that part."

"It's funny, you know? The media makes it out like I'm this Chosen One and people act like I'm some Galactic Savior… and I guess I am. I was trained since practically the time I learned to walk. I was supposed to be the 'Protector of the Galaxy.' I believed it when I was a kid, but I thought it was bullshit for the longest time after coming into Federation territory. I guess it's what I ended up becoming anyway."

"And you've saved a lot of lives."

"And I've killed a lot of people, humans and aliens alike. And I've lost a lot of people and made a lot of sacrifices. I never decided what I wanted to do with my life. It was thrust into my hands. Ridley and the Space Pirates killed my families and destroyed my homes. I ended up on the street. Then I got thrown in jail. Then off to the Army. Then out of the Army… I never had a choice in any of those things, and I've just lived my entire life feeling obligated to people. To be some kind of Savior. To take bullets and shoulder their burdens. But what if I had some choice in all that?" She pulled the power suit out of shirt and gave it a tug. "What if this had never been chained to my neck and the weight of the world never placed on my shoulders?"

"What if Atlas were to shrug?"

"Heh… Something like that maybe." Samus looked down for a moment and then back up to the stars. "If I could go back in time and be given a choice about whether to have gone on living as a human or being engineered into the weapon I am now, I would choose to be as I am now." She looked at Adam very seriously. "I have a purpose and a duty to protect those who can't fight for themselves. And if given the chance, I would gladly give up a having a life here in order to serve the galaxy as I do now. I've already given up having relationships or jobs I wanted. I've given up my right to have a life outside of this. I gave up my own son…" Her voice broke slightly on the last word, but she gave no other indication of her feelings.

Adam found himself at a loss for words. What she was saying made sense. While she lived and operated on her own terms in a lot of ways, Samus's life had never revolved around herself. "So where does that leave you now?"

"There's only one regret I have, but I don't think I made the wrong choice…" She closed her eyes and took a breath. "I did what I had to do to protect my son, even though that meant I would never get to meet him. I think it was the right choice for the time when I made it… but he's fifteen now. He's still sort of a child but not really. I spoke to Jack for a long time last night. The boy has been asking about me a lot lately. He's at that age where he's trying to figure out who he is. I feel like, given the events of the past couple of weeks, I'd be a hypocrite to deny him that."

Adam moved slightly closer to his friend, but she did not seem to want to be comforted. "So are you going to let Jack tell him?"

"No. I'm going to tell him." Samus looked Adam straight in the eyes and held him in that piercing gaze of hers. "I've made up my mind. I'm going to meet him. I'll take precautions, of course, but I'm going to do it. Ridley and the Space Pirates are truly dead. At last. I'm actually free for the first time in my life."

"Lady…" Once more, Adam felt like there was nothing he could say. Once Samus made up her mind about something, she didn't back down. "If you'd like, my home is open for you to stay for a while. I know Marza and the girls won't object."

Samus smiled, but it was a very sad, anxious sort of smile. "Thank you."

"You know you're always welcome."

"Heh… I stared down death last week in the form of five Space Dragons, and now I'm terrified out of my mind to meet this kid. I just… I have no idea what to do. I've never been a mom or anything like it. I mean, what the hell should he even call me? Should we just be on a first name basis?"

"Give it time, Lady." Adam picked up her hand and held it reassuringly. "You'll figure something out. Even if it's something no one else understands. It's what you do. You adapt. I think you'll get it down in time."

"I suppose." Though she knew there were a million more things she was feeling, she decided to let it go for now. With a sigh, she laid back on the roof and looked up at the stars, trying to figure out which ones she'd been to and which ones she would visit someday. Perhaps, she mused, she would have some kind of future. Perhaps, someday, if she lived long enough to see him become a man, she could take her son into space and show him the sorts of worlds in which she lived.

But those were a lot of what-if's and maybes. For now, she was just dying to see what he looked like and hear his voice for the first time. For now, she just wanted to lay back and look up at the stars.

 


	32. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"So you're leaving in the morning, I take it?" Elisa looked at Samus as the two women sat together on a bench overlooking what were once the gardens of Blackacre. Although it was theoretically springtime, it had still been dropping below freezing at night. It was morning now, and the rising sun bathed the fields in its golden orange glow as the frost melted into dew and glistened on the grass.

"Yeah," Samus replied, watching the light spread over the land and remembering watching her first sunrise on the train on the way to this place. "I'm leasing a car, and then I'll be driving with Adam back to his place."

"Hmm." Elisa looked over to where Samus was staring and noticed a small family of deer grazing at the edge of the woods. "Your arm healed faster than I was hoping it would."

"What?" Samus looked back at her and laughed. "You realize how that sounds?"

Elisa blushed and looked away for a moment. "That's not what I meant… I just mean… You've only been out of the hospital for two weeks. I guess I was just hoping you would be around longer." She looked back at Samus. The bounty hunter's arm was free from its sling, though she was still obviously favoring it. Elisa could see her breath in the crisp morning air and thought that the golden light played nicely on her hair and that long green coat of hers. But more than that, the huntress had her own glow about her, a sort of happiness Elisa had not seen in her before.

"I just heal a lot faster than most people," Samus said with a shrug. "Dr. Torres said it's healing well and I won't need surgery, so I figure now is as good a time to leave as any. Besides, I've got some business to attend to…" She had not told Elisa about her son or how excited she was to be meeting him for the first time. The only people who knew about that were Jack, Adam, and Morrigan. It had been a week since she had made the decision to go meet him, and since then she had been anxious for her body to heal enough for her to travel. Despite that, however, she was somewhat sad to be leaving this place. Though she had not left the property of Blackacre in the two weeks of her healing, Elisa had come to visit her often, usually in the early hours before her shift started.

"Well, for the record, I am glad your arm healed, even if you're leaving." Elisa grinned and then turned away from Samus and picked up a box she had placed beside the bench. Turning back, she handed the long, white box to Samus. "I had gotten this for you a while back and brought it over the morning you left for Bangor. I held onto it for a while, but I figured you could use it now that your arm is out of the sling."

Samus took the box and gave Elisa a confused look. "This is weird."

"What?"

"I'm just… I dunno… not used to getting presents?"

Elisa laughed. "Adam said you would be super awkward about this."

"He did?" Samus raised an eyebrow and looked skeptical for a moment, but then she turned back to the box. Pulling a knife from her pocket, she cut the tape from the cardboard and pulled off the top. Her eyes widened as she pulled back the tissue paper and saw what was inside. "Oh wow!"

"Do you like it?" Elisa asked as Samus pulled the black leather jacket out and looked it over. It was very similar to the one that had been destroyed when she was shot. "When you gave me your jacket to test for chemical traces, I took the liberty of ordering you a new one. Kind of as a thank you for enhancing my arm and killing that dragon thing. The Amazon Drone dropped it off pretty quickly, but when I brought it by, you had snuck off to Bangor already."

"I love it," Samus said quietly, still studying the jacket and feeling the soft leather. She had been very fond of her original jacket and had been very upset when it had been destroyed. She felt strangely embarrassed, however. "I don't have anything to give you in return."

"Seriously?" Elisa laughed. "You've already done more than enough for me." She reached over with her robotic right hand and traced it across the leather. "Thanks to you, I can actually feel this."

Samus looked back at Elisa and studied her face as her hand moved across the jacket. It had been weeks, and she could still see the look of amazement on the other woman's face as she marveled at the sensations in her hand.

Suddenly, the Officer's watch beeped, and she looked down at it in dismay. "I need to be going," she said as she stood up.

Samus placed the jacket back in its box and stood up as well. "I should probably be getting inside too. People will be coming downstairs for breakfast, and I told Adam I'd have coffee with him."

"Yeah…" Elisa looked reluctantly in the direction of where she had parked. "You think you'll ever come back here?"

"I don't know," Samus replied flatly. "My life is kind of… well, things just aren't easy to predict. But I'd like to come back here. It's a pretty nice place." She looked around at the woods and watched as the deer family disappeared back into the trees. "When no one is shooting at me, it's pretty peaceful."

Elisa grinned. "Well, I know you don't know when you'll be back, but when you do come back, would you maybe like to get dinner sometime? Or maybe go see a movie? Or both perhaps?"

Samus just stared at the other woman, unsure of what to make of the question. She never made plans in advance like that, but there was something exciting about the notion of returning and having that to look forward to. It was not often that she got invited out for fun. "I'd really like that."

"Awesome!"

The bounty hunter smiled and looked across at the fields once more, still bathed in the orange light. She held the box close to her chest and just let herself savor the moment. Elisa really had no idea how out of the ordinary this whole situation was for her, but while it was unusual, it was not unpleasant. She had been deeply considering having some kind of life here part-time in the future. It made her happy to think that in addition to Morrigan and Maggie, there would be someone else here looking forward to her return.

She turned and watched Elisa walk back to her car, wondering when she would see her again.

* * *

Adam watched from the doorway as Samus continued to fuss with her hair. She must have been brushing it for half an hour, only stopping periodically to adjust her makeup. She was sitting at the vanity in his guest bedroom, five discarded outfits strewn across the quilt on the bed. He did not know why she had put so much effort into deciding what to wear when she had finally just settled on boots, jeans, and her leather jacket. It was basically what she wore everyday.

"How do I look?" She turned to him. Her long blonde hair was down, and she had on enough make-up to hide her scars and highlight her eyes. "Is it too much?"

"You look fine, Lady. Truly, you do."

She smiled nervously and looked back in the mirror. "I don't know what I'm supposed to look like today, if that makes any sense. It's my first real chance to make an impression and I don't want to fuck it up."

Adam walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You look fine, Lady. Besides, I don't think a fifteen year old boy is going to spend too much time judging your technique in applying eyeliner."

"Heh…" Samus groaned, took a last look at herself, and stood up. "I guess this will have to do. It just doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean?" Adam looked her up and down. It may have been her typical look, but she pulled it off exceptionally well that day. Her hair was full and glossy, and her make-up flawless. She still looked very much like herself, but definitely at her best.

"I don't know. I don't look… mom-like."

Adam laughed. "That's because you're not mom-like. You're Samus Aran, legendary bounty hunter and destroyer of planets. That's the part a fifteen-year-old boy is going to pay attention to. Not if you're wearing the right cut of jeans."

Samus raised her eyebrows. "Legendary bounty hunter and destroyer of planets. Now I'm kind of afraid to tell him what I do."

"Why is that?"

"Because I do a lot of dangerous shit and I don't want him getting any ideas!"

Adam laughed again. "Would it make you feel better if I come with you?"

"No." Samus shook her head. "I've gotta do this alone. Besides, Jack doesn't even know I'm coming. It will look weird if we both show up. You know," she smirked at him mischievously, "given that he's your future son-in-law and all."

Adam's face turned red as he looked off to the side. "Just go… Samus."

She laughed as she walked out of the room. Teasing him about the fact that his daughter was dating her son never got old to her, mostly because he never stopped acting all flustered about it. Of course, they were teenagers so the odds that they would ever stay together long enough to get married were against them, but the idea that she and Adam could end up being in-laws amused her.

As she left his house and began to walk down the road, she braced herself for what was about to come. She had seen the house several times already, either walking or driving by, so she knew which one it was. It was just a little one-story house, perfect for a single guy and his kid. It had a modest yard and a simple look to it, and she could not help thinking it was very much a place she would expect Jack to live. Of course, she had not seen him in years, not since he had taken full custody of the boy, and he had not seen her in a long time. She thought back to the eighteen-year-old girl she had been and realized how different she must look now.

As she approached the house, she slowed her pace and came up on it very quietly, as if she were out stalking her prey. She saw the tall man in the front yard unloading groceries from the trunk of his car. He looked just like the Jack she remembered except there were now flecks of grey in his light brown hair, and he was dressed in a blue tee shirt and jeans as opposed to his military uniform.

She could hear his voice calling to someone, and her breath caught in her chest as the boy emerged from the house. Jack hadn't been exaggerating; Hector was nearly as tall as Samus herself. His sandy hair was a shade directly in between Jack's and her own, though his eyes were green like his father's. He was thin, but not scrawny, and he was wearing a black windbreaker and blue jeans with boots not unlike her own.

Samus closed her eyes and tried to breathe. She was holding back tears, but they were of the happy variety. Most mothers got to meet their children as newborns, not as high school students, but she was certain this must have been what they felt the first time they laid their eyes on their children. She felt a wave of sadness for all of the years she had missed, and she let it wash over her until it passed. And she let it go quickly as she remembered her mission and continued forward.

Without a word, she began walking toward them. Jack was fiddling with something inside the car, but Hector noticed her as soon as she stepped onto their lawn. He watched her intently as she locked eyes with him and continued toward them. After a minute, Jack realized Hector was staring at something, and his jaw nearly dropped the moment he saw her.

"Samus?" he asked, abandoning whatever he was doing in the car and walking toward her. Hector looked confused as his glance darted between Samus and his father. "Samus? Is that actually you?"

The bounty hunter stopped when she was about five feet away from him, finally managing to look away from the boy and over to Jack.

"Hello Jack," she said very calmly, her face expressionless. "Hello, Hector." She nodded to the boy. "I think we have some catching up to do."

 


End file.
